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Form No. A- 369
BRITISH MAP OF MECKLENBURG IN 1780.
History of Mecklenburg County
AND
The City of Charlotte
From 1740 to 1903.
BY D. A. TOMPKINS,
Author of Cotton and Cotton Oil; Cotton Mill,
Commercial Features ; Cotton Values in Tex-
tile Fabrics ; Cotton Mill, Processes
and Calculations ; and American
Commerce, Its Expansion.
Charlotte, N. C, 1903.
VOLUME TWO— APPENDIX.
CHARLOTTE, N. C:
Observer Printing House.
1903.
COPYRIGHT, 1904.
BY
I). \. TOMPKINS.
EXPLANATION.
This history is published in two volumes. The first volume
contains the simple narrative, and the second is in the nature
of an appendix, containing- ample discussions of important
events, a collection of biographies and many official docu-
ments justifying and verifying- the statements in this volume.
At the end of each chapter is given the sources of the in-
formation therein contained, and at the end of each volume
is an index.
PREFACE.
One of the rarest exceptions in literature is a production
devoid of personal feeling. Few indeed are the men, who,
realizing that the responsibility for their writings will be
for them alone to bear, will not utilize the advantage for the
promulgation of things as they would like them to be. Many
of the works of the Ancients fail to stand the test of modern
historical criticism because the advancing conception of his-
torical labors is getting farther and farther from discursive
analysis and closer and closer to the presentation of plain,
unvarnished facts.
"History is philosophy teaching by example," says Diony-
sins, and it is obvious that if we are to "judge the future by
the past," that the main requisite is a complete record. "To
study history," says Wilmot, "is to study literature. The
biography of a nation contains all its works. No trifle is to
be neglected. A mouldering medal is a letter of twenty cen-
turies. Antiquities which have been beautifully called his-
tory defaced, composed its fullest commentary."
Parton, in the preface to his Life of Jackson, gives an
apt illustration of the true historian's duty. A young clergy-
man, fresh from the university, became rector of one of the
oldest of English parishes. Examining his church, he found
that a crust was falling from the walls. The wardens sug-
gested whitewash, but the new rector discovered that white-
wash had been applied too many times already, and that it
was these surplus coats which were falling.
Thereupon, he resolved that instead O'f applying more, he
would remove that already on the walls. When this was
done, the beautiful frescoes which had been obscured for
many years were exposed to the view. These paintings,
some of them by the world's greatest artists, had been hidden
in order that the cracks might be filled. The true beauty of
the structure had been sacrificed to hide the natural results
IV HISTORY Ob M£CK&ENBURG COUNTY.
of man's imperfect work. After the restoration, the defi
marred die glory of the decorations, yet it left a subject for
study even if not for unqualified admiration. And above
all, those viewing it could be p t" the consciousness
that they were beholding the truth — displeasing though it
might be — yet unquestionably and plainly the truth.
It is not for the writer of history to decide what shall and
what shall not l>e recorded, any more than it is justifiable
for a church-member to accept certain articles of his religi
and repudiate the others; each must he all-inclusive or of no
importance. As a consequence, it i> not within the pr< per
bounds of historical endeavor to he argumentative. Th<
person who investigates and accumulate :or lie pur-
pose of strengthening his pre-conceived opinions is not a
historian. I Iist< ry's worst enemy is the writer who < list' rts
fact- to bolster prejudice, lli-i. ries sh uld not he intended
to convince, hut to enlighten. The true historian's duty is
to uncover the naked truth, rind though this be a disagreea-
ble task, it is duty nevertheless. In the words of Lord
Bacon, the reader should "Reade not to Contradict, and" Con-
fute; Nor to Beleeve and Take for granter; Nor to Finde
Talke and Discourse; But to Weigh and Consider."
Jn this History of Mecklenburg County, the author has
endeavored to present an historical record, not an historical
discussion. "Facts are stubborn." and when they are all in
hand, it is well to let them speak for themselves.
D. A. Tompkins.
December i, 1903.
CONTENTS.
Page.
CHAPTER I •• ..i
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY.
Brief Outline of the Discussion — Extract from Wheeler's History.
— Charlotte Democrat of July 8, 1873 — Preface to Martin's His-
tory of North Carolina — Correspondence Between Adams and
Jefferson — Extracts from the Raleigh Register — Certificates of
Men who Knew of the Convention — Instructions to Mecklen-
burg Delegates — Three Copies of the Declaration and the Re-
solves of May 31 — Hitherto Unpublished Correspondence Be-
tween John Vaughn, Hon. Peter Force, Gov. D. L. Swain and
Hon. George Bancroft — References and List of Publications on
the Subject.
CHAPTER II 57
MECKLENBURG INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT.
Unveiling in Charlotte in 1898 Attended with Impressive Ceremo-
nies.— Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson was Orator of the Occasion. —
First Monument Association Incorporated in 1842. — Declaration
Poem by Rev. W. W. Moore, of Virginia.
CHAPTER III 6o
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS.
Young Men Destroyed Ammunition and Supplies Intended for Use
Against the Regulators. — Gov. Tryon's Proclamation of Pardon
Excepted Them. — Leading Citizens Later Petitioned in Their
Behalf and Secured the Pardon. — Col. Moses Alexander Pre-
sented the Petition.
CHAPTER IV 64
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Condensed Items of Interest in the Lives of Persons Prominent in
Mecklenburg History. — Brief Biographies Alphabetically Ar-
ranged.
CHAPTER V .v 84
ANDREW JACKSON'S BIRTHPLACE.
Born in that Part of Mecklenburg Which was Made Into Union in
1842. — Moved Over Into South C. rolina When a Few Weeks Old.
—Evidence of Those Who Were Present at His Birth.— Col. E. H.
Walkup's Publication.
VI HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
CHAPTER VI 87
CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.
Amusements of the Settlers of Mecklenburg. — County Muster and
Assemblies. — Horse Racing and Betting. — Liquor Used Freely
at Home and at Public Places. — The Old Taverns and Their
Uses.
CHAPTER VII 92
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MONEY. (1762 to 1800.)
First Settlers Used Pennsylvania and Virginia Currency. — Paper
Money Discounted Nearly One-third. — Many Kinds of Coins
Used. — Federal Currency Established in 1792.
CHAPTER VIII 96
NOTES ON THE REGULATION.
Miscellaneous Information Summarized in Paragraphs. — The March
of Mecklenburg Troops to Hillsboro. — Governor Tryon's Visit
in the County. — Sentiment Pertaining to the Regulators and the
Governor.
CHAPTER IX 100
NOTES ON CHAPTER II. (The Indians.)
Items Regarding Important Events. — Very Few Relics Found in
Mecklenburg. — Correspondence Between Governors of North
Carolina and South Carolina Respecting the Catawba.
CHAPTER X 104
NOTES ON CHAPTER XV. (Religion.)
Coming of Rev. Hugh McAden. — Rev. Alexander Craighead With-
draws from the Presbyterian Synod and Comes to North Caro-
lina.— Established Church of England Met With Much Discour-
agement in Mecklenburg.
CHAPTER XI 109
HISTORY OF MINING IN MECKLENBURG.
Historic Anticipations — Discoveries in Florida — First Find in the
County — Geology of Mecklenburg — Development of Mining — Sta-
tistics of the Branch Mint in Charlotte.
CONTENTS. VII
CHAPTER XII 132
MECKLENBURG COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES.
Complete List of the Members of the General Assembly Prom This
County From 1764 to 1903. — Martin Phifer and Richard Barry
Were the First.
CHAPTER XIII 135
MECKLENBURG TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812.
Five Companies Sent From This County to the War with England
Caused by the Searching of American Vessels for British Sail-
ors.— A Total of Four Hundred and Thirty-Three Enlisted Men.*
CHAPTER XIV 142
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
Roster of Officers and Men of the Twenty-one Companies Sent From
This County.— 2,735 Soldiers and Only 2,021 Voters.— Number
Killed, Wounded or Died.* — List of Promotions.
CHAPTER XV 180
MECKLENBURG'S PART IN THE MEXICAN WAR.
Roster of the Troops in the Company Organized in Charlotte in
April of 1847.* — Green W. Caldwell was Captain and He and the
Lieutenants Were Honored by Seats in the General Assembly
After the End of the War.— The Total Number of the Soldiers
was Seventy-nine, and Eleven of Them Died in the Service.
CHAPTER XVI 183
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
Account of the Service Rendered uy Mecklenburg Troops. — Rosters
of the Three White Companies and the Colored Company.* —
Charlotte Soldiers Among the First Americans to Land in
Havana.
XVII HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
CHAPTER XVII 192
LIST OF MINISTERS.
Names of the Preachers who have Served the Leading Churches of
Charlotte, With the Number of Years of Service of Bach.
CHAPTER -Will [95
DAVIDSON.
A Brief Sketch of the Progressive Town Which lit- drown up
Around the College. — Has Macadam Streets and Factories, and
a Large Business is Done. — The Corporation Dates From 1879.
CHAPTER XIX 198
PINEVILLE.
Brief Sketch of the Growth of the Town Which was Built WheTe
President Polk was Born.— In Fifty Years it has Developed'
Into a Prosperous Community With Factories and a Population
of Seven Hundred. — Creditable Churches and Schools, and
Names of Some Prominent Families.
CHAPTER XX 200
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.
Characteristics of the Mecklenburg Negro.— Comparative Effects of
Slavery and Freedom on the Increase of Population. — Tribute
to the Memory of Major Ross. — Important Dates in Mecklen-
burg History. — List of Mayors of Charlotte. — Acts of the Gen-
eral Assembly Creating Mecklenburg, Establishing Charlotte
and Permanently Locating the Court House. — County Road
Legislation.
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
British Map of Mecklenburg- in 1780 Frontispiece
Claremont Academy 1
Sugar Creek Church 1
Signatures of Prominent Characters in Mecklenburg History. .16-33
Coat of Arms of the Phifer family, 1760 44
Proclamation Money . . 44
Receipt, 1773 .... 56
Receipt Signed by Thos. Polk in 1773 56
Monument Commemorating the Mclntyre Skirmish, Oct. 3, 1780 60
Mrs. Rachel Holton 64
Thos. J. Holton, Editor of the Charlotte Journal 64
James W. Osborne 67
William Davidson 69
Henry Bartlett Williams 71
W. K. Phifer 72
General Hugh Waddell 74
General Joseph Graham 76
David Parks 78
Lieutenant F. C. Davidson 81
W. F. Davidson 82
Map of Vicinity of Jackson's Birthplace 84
Old Wilson Place 86
Alexander Rock House 86
Extracts from Copy Books in use in Mecklenburg County
Schools in 1850 88
Note Given in 1767 90
Bill for Teaching, 1822 90
Sale Notice, 1838 92
Contract, 1767 94
Confederate Currency, 1864 96
North Carolina Currency, 1866 100
Itemized Bill for "Learning," 1798 102
United States Bank Note 104
Revolutionary Currency 112
Revolutionary State Money 132
Tomb of Thomas Polk 136
Receipt, 1783 136
Bill of Account, 1767 140
XIX INDKX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
Bill for Subscription. 1792 144
Stage Line Way-Hill. 1*46 160
United States Currency 180
State Currency 184
Contract Dated in 17J>7 192
Revolutionary Currency 196
Contract, 17<>5 1(,7
Xi'^'m l',i^> 199
Bill of Sale, 1747 204
Arab-African 208
Saracen-African 208
Dinka-Ntrgro 209
Guinea-Negro 209
CLAREMONT ACADEMY.
(Volume I., Page 166.)
SUGAR CREEK CHURCH.
(See Index to Volume I.)
CHAPTER I.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY.
Brief Outline of the Discussion — Extract from Wheeler's History.
— Charlotte Democrat of July 8, 1873 — Preface to Martin's His-
tory of North Carolina — Correspondence Between Adams and
Jefferson — Extracts from the Raleigh Register — Certificates of
Men who Knew of the Convention — Instructions to Mecklen-
burg Delegates — Three Copies of the Declaration and the Re-
solves of May 31 — Hitherto Unpublished Correspondence Be-
tween John Vaughn, Hon. Peter Force, Gov. D. L. Swain and
Hon. George Bancroft — References ana List of Publications on
the Subject.
The controversy regarding the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence has occupied the time and attention of
many of America's most profound thinkers and writers.
Some of them contend that the evidence is sufficient, while
others maintain that it is not sufficient and that the actual
Declaration of Independence was not made as is claimed.
Conclusive proof of a historical proposition depends upon
contemporaneous records, personal testimony of reliable
persons acquainted with the facts, and traditions. Now,
suppose at this late date, some one should question the au-
thenticity of the National Declaration of Independence,
made in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. First would be
shown a verbatim copy of the real original which was
signed July 4, 1776, and in the days following as new dele-
gates arrived. Then there would be the contemporaneous
periodicals, personal correspondence and the known trend of
public sentiment toward independence. In proof of the
Mecklenburg Declaration, we have all this and in addition,
the specific statements of a dozen men who* were present and
participated in the proceedings. Why is it, then, that there
was ever any doubt regarding the action of the people of
Mecklenburg ?
In the first place, at the time the Mecklenburg Dec-
2 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
laration was made, each part of the country was too busy
with home affairs to pay much attention to outside matters.
There were but few newspapers in this section, vet the Cape
Fear Mercury and the Charleston Gazette and Country Jour-
nal mentioned the proceedings. The men of the county were
busy with preparations for war, and as every one concerned
knew of the action, there was naturally no reason to make
superfluous records. The official papers were burned in the
fire which destroyed John McKnitt Alexander's house in
1800. The National Declaration was made fourteen months
after the Mecklenburg Declaration and. of course, overshad-
owed the action of the latter until long after the smoke of
battle had cleared away. Consequently, there was but little
contemporaneous evidence, and when the Mecklenburg Dec-
laration became of national interest in 1819, most of the an-
tagonism to it was based on the false belief that the trend
of sentiment in North Carolina was not so strong in 1775
as to render probable a declaration of independence, and not
until the publication of the Colonial Records, in recent years,
was the falsity of that belief established. These records
show, by correspondence and other official documents, that
Thomas Jefferson was conservative in his statement to John
Adams that "No State was more fixed or forward than
North Carolina."* The people of the State, acting independ-
ently, convened a congress at New Bern in August, 1774.
Gov. Martin left the State and royal authority ended in
North Carolina in June, 1775. The Battle of Moore's Creek
Bridge was fought February 2j, 1776, and the Fourth Pro-
vincial Congress, held at Halifax in April, 1776, declared
for independence. So it appears not only natural that Meck-
lenburg should declare her independence, but that she icas
independent and with a government of her own from May
20, 1775. It is to be remembered also, that Mecklenburg
then was about five times the present size, and that the pro-
ceedings of the convention were participated in by represen-
*Correspondence, July 9, 1819.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 3
tative men from other sections, so that while the Declara-
tion could not be construed as a State document, yet it un-
questionably represented the attitude of the entire State.
All North Carolina was independent, but only Mecklenburg
made an official declaration of the fact.
In the latter part of the year 1818, the subject was under
discussion among the North Carolina representatives in
Congress, and Nathaniel Macon, William Davidson and
others corresponded with representative men of this section,
the correspondence being published in the Raleigh Register
in 1819, and in the Essex (Mass.) Register of June 5, 1819,
and in other papers. The Essex Register fell into the hands
of John Adams and resulted in the letters regarding the sub-
ject between Adams and Jefferson. Jefferson's Writings
and Martin's History of North Carolina were published in
1829, and the discussion was reopened. In 1831, the State
issued a pamphlet under direction of a legislative committee,
which was designed to forever settle all dispute regarding
the declaration.
With the people of Mecklenburg, there had never been
any doubt, as the old traditions were firmly and generally
established. In 1809, nearly ten years before the contro-
versy began, the Raleigh Minerva published the declama-
tion of a school boy, William Wallace, at Sugar Creek
Academy, delivered June 1, 1809. The teacher was Rev.
Samuel C. Caldwell, a son-in-law of John McKnitt Alexan-
der. The declamation began: "On the 19th of May, a day
sacredly exulting to every Mecklenburg bosom, two- dele-
gates duly authorized from each militia company met in
Charlotte. After a cool and deliberate investigation of the
causes and extent of our differences with Great Britain, and
taking a review of probable results, pledging their all in sup-
port of its rights and liberties, they solemnly entered into
and published a full and determined Declaration of Inde-
pendence, renouncing forever all allegiance, dependence, or
connection with Great Britain, dissolved all judicial and
military establishments emanating from the British Crown,
4 HISTORY OF Ml'.CKI.KMH RG COUNTY.
and established other.- on principles c< rresp aiding with their
(leclarati.ii. which went into immediate operation, all of
which was transmitted to Congress by express, and proba-
bly expedited the general I declaration of Independence. May
we ever act worthy of such predecessors'"
On December i8, [838, Colonel Peter Force, a distin-
guished antiquarian, found in the New York Journal of
June 29, 1775. a portion of certain resolves by the peopli
Mecklenburg, made in May. 1775. He found a second copy
in the Massachusetts Spy of July u. 1775. William Kelby,
assistant librarian of the New Vork Historical Society,
found that the New York Journal had copied the resolves
from a Charleston paper. The Northern papers had copied
the first four resolves, with the preamble, and had summar-
ized the others. At the instance of Gov. Swain. Dr. Joseph
Johnston found in the Charleston library a copy of the South
Carolina Gazette and Country Journal of Tuesday. June 13,
1775. About the same time, Mr. Bancroft, then American
minister to Great Britain, discovered the same number of the
South Carolina Gazette, which had been forwarded to the
British government by the Governor of Georgia, accom-
panied by the following letter : "By the enclosed paper, your
Lordship will see the extraordinary resolves of the people of
■Charlotte-town, in Mecklenburg county, and I should not be
.surprised if the same should be done everywhere else."
The original copy was destroyed in the fire which burned
the house of John McKnitt Alexander. A copy of the orig-
inal was sent before the burning of the house to the histo-
rian, Williamson, in New York, and it, together with the
other sources of his history, were destroyed by a fire in that
city. John McKnitt Alexander wrote the Declaration from
memorv. and with the exception of some superfluous adjec-
tives, it is presumed to be a fairly accurate copy. This was
sent to Gen. William R. Davie and recovered after his death,
and is now in the library at Chapel Hill. It is known as
the Davie copy. The Martin copy is so called from its pub-
lication in Martin's History of North Carolina. This book
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 5
was published in 1829, but it was prepared, in final form, be-
fore 1809. A third copy, called the Garden copy, was pub-
lished in 1828 by Alexander Garden'* of Lee's Legion, and
this is almost exactly identical with the Martin copy, which
is regarded as the authentic copy. Garden could not have
gotten it from Martin's History, which was published a year
later, and Martin testifies to Dr. Hawkes that he did not get
his copy from Garden, and did not know that Garden had a
copy. Garden was an intimate friend and associate of Dr.
William Read, of Charleston, who was a surgeon-general
of Greene's army, and was stationed in Charlotte during the
Revolution, and who attended Dr. Ephraim Brevard in his
last sickness at the house of John McKnitt Alexander.
Garden had, therefore, ample opportunity for obtaining at
first hand the sources of information for his chapter on the
Mecklenburg Declaration, in which Dr. Read is mentioned
as the source of his information.
While Martin's history was published in 1829, the author
testifies in the preface that he had gathered the materials for
this history before 1809, when he was sent to the Mississippi
Territory by President Madison. And that being warned
by an attack of sickness, that he might not live to publish the
history, he determined "to put the work immediately to press
in the condition it was in when it reached New Orleans."
The references he makes are to> "Records, Magazines, Ga-
zettes." No one can read the Colonial Records, lately pub-
lished, and then read the digest of them in Martin's History,
without being struck with the accuracy and impartiality of
his story. As to this particular document of the Mecklen-
burg Declaration, Martin testified in a conversation with
Rev. F. L. Hawkes, D. D., that he had obtained it "in the
western part of the State prior to the year 1800."** Judge
Francis Xavier Martin, LL. D., was an eminent jurist and
♦Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution.
**"The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence," an Address
by Dr. Hawks in New York, December 16, 1852. Published in "Rev-
olutionary History of North Carolina," 1853.
6 HISTORY OK MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
scholar who emigrated from France to America in 1782,
and settled in New Bern. By a resolution of the Assembly,
he was employed to compile and edit the ''British Statutes"
of North Carolina, and devoted the years 1791-92 to that
work. He was engaged by the Legislature, in 1794, and
again in 1803, to edit the private acts of the Assembly. All
this time he was gathering materials for his history of North
Carolina, and must have known those members of the As-
sembly from Mecklenburg who were participants in the
scenes of the 19th and 20th of May, such as Robert Irwin.
James Harris, William Polk, George Graham, and Joseph
Graham. In 1806-7, ne was a member of the Legislature
and again associated with George Graham, and Nathaniel
Alexander, Mecklenburg's first occupant of the Governor's
seat, who was a son-in-law of Col. Thomas Polk. Martin
had the opportunity for securing original documents, the
habit of historical investigation, the tastes and judgment of
a scholar, and the judicial temperament which weighs evi-
dence and rejects that which is false. His testimony alone
would be sufficient to establish the fact that the committee
of Mecklenburg citizens passed the resolutions which he
prints in full, on the 20th day of May, 1776.
In the year 1793, Dr. Hugh Williamson, who had an-
nounced his purpose to write a history of North Carolina,
secured a copy of the Declaration from Mr. Alexander,
which copy was seen by Gov. Stokes in Fayetteville in 1793,
in the well-known handwriting of John McKnitt Alexan-
der, as Gov. Stokes testifies.* In the year 1800, the Alexan-
der residence, with the original copy of the Declaration and
all the other proceedings of the Mecklenburg committee,
were destroyed by fire.
The following was affixed to the Davie copy in the hand-
writing of John McKnitt Alexander: "It may be worthy
of notice here to observe that the foregoing statement,
though fundamentally correct, may not literally correspond
*Dr. Hawks' Address. (See Page 8.)
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. J
with the original record of the transactions of said delega-
tion and court of enquiry, as all those records and papers
were burnt with the house on April 6, 1800; but previous
to that time of 1800, a full copy of said records, at the re-
quest of Dr. Hugh Williamson, then of New York, but for-
merly a representative in Congress from this State, was for-
warded to him by Col. William Polk, in order that those
early transactions might fill their proper place in a history
of this State then writing by said Dr. Williamson, in New
York.
"Certified to the best of my .recollection and belief, this
3d day of September, 1800."
The Davie copy is a free version of the Martin copy. It
begins with the past tense, "Whosoever abetted," showing
the act of memory involved. There is a superfluity of ad-
jectives, "unchartered and dangerous," "inherent and
inalienable," which may be an echo of the National Declara-
tion, though "rights inalienably ours" is an expression found
in the articles of association adopted by Congress in 1774.
"Americans" becomes "American patriots" in the old man's
memory. A preamble is put to the fourth resolution, "as
we now acknowledge the existence and control of no law or
legal officer, civil or military" — "all and each" becomes "all,
each and every." Instead of "be entitled to exercise the
same powers and authorities as heretofore," Mr. Alexander
gives as the substance of it, "is hereby reinstated in his
former command an authority." "According to law" is
changed to "according to said adopted laws," and "the love
of liberty and of country" is recalled as "the love of country
and the fire of freedom." The resolution about carrying the
copy to Philadelphia is omitted in Mr. Alexander's account.
Otherwise the copies agree.
It is impossible to believe that in writing down his recol-
lection of the resolutions adopted, Mr. Alexander should
have certified that the copy was fundamentally correct, and
at the same time have appealed to an exact copy for proof of
the fundamental correctness, the exact copy to be published,
8 HISTORY 01- MI.CKI. i:\BURG COUNTY.
as he thought, to the world, unless he was confident that his
recollection was reliable. When the fire destroyed the origi-
nal, he remarked that the declaration was safe, as Dr. Wil-
liamson had a copy.
Dr. Williamson did not complete his history as projected,
stopping- with the year 1771. When the missing copy was
sought for, it was found that his papers also had been de-
stroyed by a fire in New York. The papers from which
Martin compiled his history were sent to France and have
disappeared. The data collected for Garden's Anecdotes has
also been lost, and no copy* of the Cape Fear Mercury of
June, 1775, has ever come to light except the copy which
Gov. Martin sent to London and which Mr. Stevenson, of
Virginia, borrowed and did not return.*
They who undertook the task of proving that the Meck-
lenburg Declaration was not made, chose as their ground
for argument that some "Resolves" were adopted May 31,
and that these "Resolves" did not go so far as the Declara-
tion. They proved beyond all doubt that the Resolves were
made, while their opponents in the discussion proved that
the Declaration was made. Hence, we were given conclu-
sive evidence of two meetings, one of which completed the
work of the other. Some writers have lost the whole ques-
tion in a hazy attempt to merge the two sets of resolutions
and the two conventions into one, and hence have not noted
the fact that the Declaration of May 20 declared the inde-
pendence of Mecklenburg county, and that the Resolves of
May 31 proclaimed the independence of the United Colonies.
{Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D.)**
No less than seven witnesses of most unexceptionable character
swear positively that there was a meeting of the people of Mecklen-
burg at Charlotte, on the 19th and 20th days of May, 1775; that cer-
tain declarations distinctly declaring independence of Great Britain
were then and there prepared by a committee, read publicly to the
♦Record in the British Museum.
**In an Address. (See Note, Page 5.)
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 9
people by Col. Thomas Polk, and adopted by acclamation; that they
Were present and took part in the proceedings themselves, and that
John McKnitt Alexander was a Secretary of the meeting. These
seven swear positively to the date, the 19th and 20th days of May,
1775. * * * Now as to the paper sent to Williamson, Hon. Mont-
fort Stokes was Governor of North Carolina in the year 1831; while
he occupied that high position, he testified that in the year 1793,
(mark the date), he saw in the possession of Dr. Williamson a copy
of the documents of the 20th of May, 1775, in the handwriting of
John McKnitt Alexander, together with a letter to Williamson from
Alexander, and that he conversed with Williamson on the subject.
{Wheeler's History of North Carolina, Page 258.)
The first American manifesto against the encroachments of
power, the elective franchise, and the unwise interference of trade,
was made in North Carolina as early as 1678, and nearly two
hundred years before our independence was declared. Thus were
sown, deep and broad, the seeds of liberty among her people with
a liberal hand. * * * That the people of North Carolina should
always have been.
"Men who knew their rights, and knowing dared maintain,"
is evident from every page of her history. But, that her sons should,
on the 20th day of May, 1775, assemble at Charlotte, at a period of
doubt, of darkness, and of danger, without concert with other
States, without assurance of support from any quarter, and there
"dissolve the political bands which connected them with the mother
country," and there "declare themselves a free and independent
people, and of right, ought to be soverign and self governing," is a
subject full of moral sublimity, and a source of elevating State
pride.
(Charlotte Democrat, July 8, 1873.)*
A highly intelligent gentleman, who has lived in Charlotte over
fifty years, told us the other day that at a celebration in Charlotte on
the 20th of May, 1835, he saw in procession seventy-five persons
who were present when the Declaration was made on the 20th of
May, 1775; and who testified that the meeting of the 31st of May
was an adjourned one from the 20th.
(Preface to Martin's History of North Carolina.)
The writer imagined he had collected sufficient materials to
justify the hope of producing a history of North Carolina worth
♦Carnegie Free Library, of Charlotte.
IO HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the attention of his fellow citizens, and he had arranged all those
that related to transactions, anterior to the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, when, in 1809, Mr. Madison thought his services were
wanted, first in the Mississippi territory and afterwards in that of
New Orleans; and when the latter territory became a State, the
new government thought proper to retain him.
He had entertained the hope that the time would arrive when
disengaged from public duties, he might resume the work he had
commenced in Carolina; but years have rolled away without bring-
ing on this period; and a shock his health lately received during
the year of his great climacteric, has warned him that the moment
is arrived when his intended work must engage his immediate
attention, or be absolutely abandoned.
A circumstance, for some time, recommended the latter alter-
native. The public prints stated, that a gentleman of known
industry and great talents, who has filled a very high office in North
Carolina, was engaged in a similar work; but several years have
elapsed since, and nothing favors the belief, that the hopes which
he had excited will soon be realized.
This gentleman had made application for the materials not
published and they would have been forwarded to him, if they had
been in a condition of being useful to any but him who had col-
lected them. In their circuitous way from Newbern to New York
and New Orleans, the sea water found its way to them: since their
arrival, the mice, worms and the variety of insects of a humid and
warm climate, have made great ravages among them. The ink of
several very ancient documents has grown so pale as to render
them nearly illegible, and notes hastily taken on a journey are in
so cramped a hand that they are not to be deciphered by any
person but him who made them.
The determination has been taken to put the work immediately
to the press, in the condition it was when it reached New Orleans:
this has prevented any use being made of Williamson's History of
North Carolina, a copy of which did not reach the writer's hands
till after his arrival in Louisiana.
The expectation is cherished, that the people of North Carolina
will receive with indulgence a work ushered to light under circum-
stances so untoward.
Very ample notes and materials are ready for a volume, relating
to the events of the Revolutionary War, and another, detailing sub-
sequent transactions, till the writer's departure from Newbern, in
1809. If God yield him life and health, and his fellow citizens in
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 1 1
North Carolina appear desirous these should follow the two vol-
umes now presented to them, it is not improbable they will appear.
Francis Xavier Martin.
Gentilly, near New Orleans, July 20, 1829.
{John Adams to Thomas Jefferson.)*
"Quincy, 22d June, 1819.
"Dear Sir,
"May I enclose you one of the greatest curiosities, and one of the
deepest mysteries that ever occurred to me; it is in the Esssex
Register of June the 5th, 1819. It is entitled, from the Raleigh
Register, 'Declaration of Independence.' How is it possible that
this paper should have been concealed from me to this day. Had
it been communicated to me in the time of it, I know, if you do not
know, that it would have been printed in every Whig newspaper
upon the continent. You know, that if I had possessed it, I would
have made the Hall of Congress echo and re-echo with it fifteen
months before your Declaration of Independence. What a poor
ignorant, malicious, short-sighted, crapulous mass is Tom Paine's
Common Sense in comparison with this paper. Had I known it
I would have commented upon it from the day you entered Con-
gress till the fourth of July, 1776.
"The genuine sense of America at that moment was never so
well expressed before nor since. Richard Caswell, William Hooper,
and Joseph Hewes, the then Representatives of North Carolina in
Congress, you know as well as I; and you know that the unanimity
of the States finally depended on the vote of Joseph Hewes, and was
finally determined by him; and yet history is to ascribe the Ameri-
can Revolution to Thomas Paine. Sat Verbum sapienti.
"I am, dear sir, your invariable friend,
"John Adams.
"President Jefferson."
(Thomas Jefferson to John Adams.)**
This letter is published in the furtherance of the author's
desire to give all the evidence. Mr. Jefferson's misinforma-
tion and mistakes are numerous. He expresses doubt as to
the publication in the Raleigh Register and to the exist-
*Jones' Defence of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina.
Page 296.
**State Pamphlet, 1831.
12 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
ence of J. McKnitt (Alexander). He mentions "a copy
sent to the dead Caswell." when in truth the copy was sent
to William K. Davie who was living at the time Jeffer- n
was writing. He refers to "historians of the adjacent States"
and to his own and Patrick Henry's biographers as though
he did not km w they would be the last of all to acknowledge
that the Revolution began in North Carolina.
He speaks of "Williamson, whose memory did not recol-
lect in the history he has written of North Carolina, this
gigantic step of its county of Mecklenburg;" and William-
son's history reached only to the year 1771. And worst of
all, he speaks disparagingly of Hooper and Hewes, who ad-
vocated independence long before he did. (See Volume I.,
page 44. )
"Month t.i.i.o. July 9, 1819.
"Dear Sir, — I am in debt to you for your letters of May the 21st,
27th, and June the 22nd. The first, delivered me by Mr. Greenwood,
gave me the gratification of his acquaintance; and a gratification it
always is, to be made acquainted with gentlemen of candor, worth,
and information, as I found Mr. Greenwood to be. That on the
subject of Mr. Samuel Adams Wells, shall not be forgotten in time
and place, when it can be used to his advantage.
"But what has attracted my peculiar notice, is the paper from
Mecklenburg county, of North Carolina, published in the Essex
Register, which you were so kind as to enclose in your last, of June
the 22nd. And you seem to think it genuine. I believe it spurious.
I deem it to be a very unjustifiable quiz, like that of the volcano,
so minutely related to us having broken out in North Carolina, some
half dozen years ago, in that part of the country, and perhaps in
that very county of Mecklenburg, for I do not remember its precise
locality.** If this paper be really taken from the Raleigh Register,
as quoted, I wonder it should have escaped Ritchie, who culls what
is good from every paper, as the bee from every flower; and the
National Intelligencer, too, which is edited by a North Carolinian;
and that the fire should blaze out all at once in Essex, one thou-
sand miles from where the spark is said to have fallen. But if
really taken from the Raleigh Register, who is the narrator, and
is the name subscribed real, or is it as fictitious as the paper itself?
It appeals, too, to an original book, which is burnt, to Mr. Alexander,
who is dead, to a joint letter from Caswell, Hewes, and Hooper, all
**The story was of a volcano in Buncombe county. — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. I 3
dead, to a copy sent to the dead Caswell, and another sent to Doctor
Williamson, now probably dead, whose memory did not recollect,
in the history he has written of North Carolina, this gigantic step
of its county of Mecklenburg. Horry, too, is silent in his history
of Marion, whose scene of action was the country bordering on
Mecklenburg. Ramsay, Marshall, Jones, Girardin, Wirt, historians
of the adjacent States, all silent. When Mr. Henry's resolutions,
far short of independence, flew like lightning through every paper
and kindled both sides of the Atlantic, this flaming declaration of
the same date, of the independence of Mecklenburg county, of North
Carolina, absolving it from the British allegiance, and abjuring all
political connection with that nation, although sent to Congress,
too, is never heard of. It is not known even a twelve-month after,
when a similar proposition is first made in that body. Armed with
this bold example, would not you have addressed our timid brethren
in peals of thunder, on their tardy fears? Would not every advo-
cate of independence have rung the glories of Mecklenburg county,
in North Carolina, in the ears of the doubting Dickinson and others,
who hung so heavily on us? Yet the example of independent Meck-
lenburg county, in North Carolina, was never once quoted. The
paper speaks, too, of the continued exertions of their delegation
(Caswell, Hooper, Hewes,) 'in the cause of liberty and independence.'
Now, you remember as well as I do, that we had not a greater tory
in Congress than Hooper;* that Hewes was very wavering, some-
times firm, sometimes feeble, according as the day was clear or
cloudy; that Caswell, indeed, was a good Whig, and kept these gen-
tlemen to the notch, while he was present; but that he left us soon,
and their line of conduct became then uncertain until Penn came,
who fixed Hewes, and the vote of the State. I must not be understood
as suggesting any doubtfulness in the State of North Carolina. No
State was more fixed or forward. Nor do I affirm, positively, that
this paper is a fabrication, because the proof of a negative can only
be presumptive. But I shall believe it such until positive and
solemn proof of its authenticity shall be produced. And if the
name of McKnitt be real, and not a part of the fabrication, it needs
a vindication by the production of such proof. For the present, I
must be an unbeliever in the apocryphal gospel.
"I am glad to learn that Mr. Ticknor has safely returned to his
friends; but should have been much more pleased had he accepted
the Professorship in our University, which we should have offered
him in form. Mr. Bowditch, too, refuses us; so fascinating is the
*These Reflections on Hooper and Hewes are Disproven by Jones'
Defence of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina.— D. A. T.
14 HISTORY OF MECKUvNBURG COUNTY.
vinculum of the dulve natalc solum. Our wish is to procure natives,
where they cau be found, like these gentlemen, of the first order of
acquirement in their respective lines; but preferring foreigners of
the first order to natives of the second, we shall certainly have to
go, for several of our Professors, to countries more advanced in
science than we are.
'•I set out within three or four days for my other home, the
distance of which, and its cross mails, are great impediments to
epistolary communications. I shall remain there about two months;
and there, here, and everywhere, I am and shall always be affection-
ately and respectfully yours,
"Th: Jefferson."
(Raleigh Register, April 30, 1819.)*
It is not, probably, known to many of our readers, that the citi-
zens of Mecklenburg county, in this State, made a Declaration of
Independence more than a year before Congress made theirs. The
following document on the subject has lately come to the hands of
the Editor from unquestionable authority, and is published that it
may go down to posterity.
North Carolina, Mecklenburg County,
May 20, 1775.
In the spring of 1775, the leading characters of Mecklenburg
county, stimulated by that enthusiastic patriotism which elevates
the mind above considerations of individual aggrandizement, and
scorning to shelter themselves from the impending storm by sub-
mission to lawless power, etc., etc., held several detached meetings,
in each of which the individual sentiments were, "that the cause of
Boston was the cause of all; that their destinies were indissolubly
connected with those of their Eastern fellow citizens — and that
they must either submit to all the impositions which an unprin-
cipled, and to them an unrepresented, Parliament might impose — or
support their brethren who were doomed to sustain the first shock
of that power, which, if successful there, would ultimately over-
whelm all in the common calamity." Conformably to these prin-
ciples, Colonel T. Polk, through solicitation, issued an order to each
Captain's company in the county of Mecklenburg, (then compris-
ing the present county of Cabarrus,) directing each militia company
to elect two persons, and delegate to them ample power to devise
ways and means to aid and assist their suffering brethren in
Boston, and also generally to adopt measures to extricate them-
selves from the impending storm, and to secure unimpaired their
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 1 5
inalienable rights, privileges and liberties, from the dominant grasp
of British imposition and tyranny.
In conformity to said order, on the 19th of May, 1775, the said
delegation met in Charlotte, vested with unlimited powers; at which
time official news, by express, arrived of the battle of Lexington on
that day of the preceding month. Every delegate felt the value and
importance of the prize, and the awful and solemn crisis which had
arrived— every bosom swelled with indignation at the malice, invet-
eracy, and insatiable revenge, developed in the late attack at Lex-
ington. The universal sentiment was: let us not flatter ourselves
that popular harangues, or resolves; that popular vapour will avert
the storm, or vanquish our common enemy — let us deliberate — let
us calculate the issue— the probable result; and then let us act with
energy, as brethren leagued to preserve our property— our lives—
and what is still more endearing, the liberties of America. Abra-
ham Alexander was then elected Chairman, and John M'Knitt Alex-
ander, Clerk. After a free and full discussion of the various objects
for which the delegation had been convened, it was unanimously
ordained.
(Here follows the Declaration.)
A number of by-laws were also added, merely to protect the asso-
ciation from confusion, and to regulate their general conduct as citi-
zens. After sitting in the Court House all night, neither sleepy,
hungry, nor fatigued, and after discussing every paragraph, they
were all passed, sanctioned, and decreed, unanimously, about 2
o'clock a. m., May 20, In a few days, a deputation of said delegation
convened, when Capt. James Jack, of Charlotte, was deputed as ex-
press to the Congress at Philadelphia, with a copy of said Resolves
and Proceedings, together with a letter addressed to our three repre-
sentatives there, viz., Richard Caswell, William Hooper and Joseph
Hewes— under express injunction, personally, and through the State
representation, to use all possible means to have said proceedings
sanctioned and approved by the General Congress. On the return
of Captain Jack, the delegation learned that their proceedings were
individually approved by the members of Congress, but that it was
deemed premature to lay them before the House. A joint letter
from said three Members of Congress was also received, compli-
mentary of the zeal in the common cause, and recommending per-
severance, order and energy.*
The subsequent harmony, unanimity, and exertion in the cause
of liberty and independence, evidently resulting from these regula-
•
*This letter was burned with the original Copy of the Declara-
tion.— D. A. T.
l6 HISTORV '»!•' MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
tions and the continued exertion of said delegation, apparently
tranqullized this section of the State, and met with the concur*
rence and high approbation of the Council of Safety, who held their
sessions at Newbern and Wilmington, alternately, and who con-
firmed the nomination and acts of the delegation in their official
capacity.
From this delegation originated the Court of Enquiry of this
county, who constituted and held their first session in Charlotte —
they then held their meetings regularly at Charlotte, at Col. Janus
Harris's, and at Col. Phifer's. alternately, one week at each place.
It was a Civil Court founded on military process. Before this Judi-
cature, all suspicious persons were made to appear, who were for-
mally tried and banished, or continued under guard. Its Jurisdic-
tion was as unlimited as toryism, and i 5 decrees as final ss the con-
fidence and patriotism of the country. Several were arrested and
brought before them from Lincoln, Rowan and the adjacent coun-
ties.
[The foregoing is a true copy of the papers on the above subject,
left in my hands by John McKnitt Alexander, deceased. I find it
mentioned on file that the original book was burned April, 1800.
That a copy of the proceedings was sent to Hugh Williamson, in
New York, then writing a History of North Carolina, and that a
copy was sent to Gen. W. R. Davie. J. McKnitt.]*
(Raleigh Register, February 18, 1820.;**
MECKLENBUBG DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
When this Declaration was first published in April last, some
doubts were expressed in the Eastern papers as to its authenticity,
(none of the Histories of the Revolution having noticed the circum-
stance.) Col. William Polk, of this city, (who, though a mere youth
at the time, was present at the meeting which made the Declaration,
and whose father, being Colonel of the county, appears to have
acted a conspicuous part on the occasion,) observing this, assured
us of the correctness of the facts generally, though he thought there
were errors as to the name of the Secretary, etc., and said that he
should probably be able to correct these, and throw some further
light on the subject, by inquiries amongst some of his old friends
in Mecklenburg county. He has accordingly made inquiries, and
communicated to us the following Documents as the result, which,
we presume, will do away all doubts on the subject.
*Dr. Joseph McKnitt .Alexander, son of John McKnitt Alexan-
der.—D. A. T.
**State Pamphlet, 1831.
QS* w sf^/co
Sc^hZ_ -s
OfU.
■SIGNATURES OF PROMINENT CHARACTERS IN MECKLEN-
BURG HISTORY.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. I J
(Certificate of Samuel Henderson.)*
State of North Carolina,
Mecklenburg County.
I, Samuel Henderson, do hereby certify, that the paper annexed
was obtained by me from Maj. William Davie in its present situa-
tion, soon after the death of his father, Gen. William R. Davie, and
given to Doct. Joseph McKnitt by me. In searching for some par-
ticular paper, I came across this, and, knowing the handwriting of
John McKnitt Alexander, took it up, and examined it. Maj. Davie
said to me (when asked how it became torn) his sisters had torn it,
not knowing what it was.
Given under my hand, this 25th November, 1830.
Sam. Henderson.
[Note. — To this certificate of Doct. Henderson is annexed the
copy of the paper A, originally deposited by John McKnitt Alexan-
der in the hands of Gen. Davie; whose name seems to have been
mistaken by Mr. Jefferson for that of Gov. Caswell. See preface,
pages 5 and 6. This paper is somewhat torn, but is entirely legible,
and constitutes the "solemn and positive proof of authenticity"
which Mr. Jefferson required, and which would doubtless have been
satisfactory, had it been submitted to him.]
(Captain Jack's Certificate.)*
Having seen in the newspapers some pieces respecting the Declar-
ation of Independence by the people of Mecklenburg county, in the
State of North Carolina, in May, 1775, and being solicited to state
what I know of that transaction; I would observe, that for some
time previous to, and at the time those resolutions were agreed upon,
I resided in the town of Charlotte, Mecklenburg county; was privy
to a number of meetings of some of the most influential and leading
characters of that county on the subject, before the final adoption
of the resolutions — and at the time they were adopted; among those
who appeared to take the lead, may be mentioned Hezekiah Alexan-
der, who generally acted as chairman; John McKnitt Alexander,
as secretary; Abraham Alexander, Adam Alexander, Maj. John Da-
vidson, Maj. (afterwards Gen.) Wm. Davidson, Col. Thomas Polk,
Ezekiel Polk, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, Samuel Martin, Duncan Ochle-
tree, William Willson, Robert Irvin.
When the resolutions were finally agreed on, they were publicly
proclaimed from the Court-house door in the town of Charlotte, and
received with every demonstration of joy by the inhabitants.
I was then solicited to be the bearer of the proceedings to Con-
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
l8 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
gress. I set out the following month, say June, and in passing
through Salisbury, the General Court was sitting — at the request of
the court I handed a copy of the resolutions to Col. Kennon, an At-
torney, and they were read aloud in open court. Major William
Davidson, and Mr. Avery, an attorney, called on me at my lodgings
the evening after, and observed, they had heard of but one person,
(a Mr. Beard) but approved of them.
I then proceeded on to Philadelphia, and delivered the Mecklen-
burg Declaration of Independence of May, 1775, to Richard Caswell
and William Hooper, the delegates to Congress from the State of
North Carolina.
I am now in the eighty-eighth year of my age, residing in the
county of Elbert, in the State of Georgia. I was in the Revolution-
ary War, from the commencement to the close. I would further
observe, that the Rev. Francis Cummins, a Presbyterian clergyman,
of Greene county, in this State, w^s a student in the town of Char-
lotte at the time of the adoption of the resolutions, and is as well,
or perhaps better acquainted with the proceedings at that time,
than any man now living.
Col. William Polk, of Raleigh, in North Carolina, was living with
his father Thomas, in Charlotte, at the time I have been speaking
of, and although then too young to be forward in the business, yet
the leading circumstances I have related cannot have escaped his
recollection.
James Jack.
Signed this 7th Dec, 1819, in presence of
Job Weston. C. C. 0.
James Olives, Atto. at Law.
(The Alexander Certificate.)*
North Carolina.
Cabarrus County, Nov. 29, 1830.
We. the undersigned, do hereby certify that we have frequently
heard William S. Alexander, deceased, say that he, the said Wm. S.
Alexander, was at Philadelphia, on mercantile business, in the early
part of the summer of 1775, say in June; and that on the day that
Gen. Washington left Philadelphia to take command of the North-
ern army,** he, the said Wm. S. Alexander, met with Capt. James
Jack, who informed him, the said Wm. S. Alexander, that he, the said
James Jack, was there as the agent or bearer of the Declaration of
Independence made in Charlotte, on the twentieth day of May, sev-
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
**June 23.— D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 1 9
enteen hundred and seventy-five, by the citizens of Mecklenburg,
then including Cabarrus, with instructions to present the same to
the Delegates from North Carolina, and by them to be laid before
Congress, and which he said he had done; in which Declaration the
aforesaid citizens of Mecklenburg renounced their allegiance to the
crown of Great Britain, and set up a government for themselves, un-
der the title of The Committee of Safety.
Given under our hands the date above written.
Alphonso Alexander,
Amos Alexander,
J. McKnitt.
(Francis Cummins' Certificate.)*
Lexington, Ga., November 10, 1819.
Dear Sir: — The bearer, the Hon. Thomas W. Cobb, has suggested
to me that you had a desire to know something particularly of the
proceedings of the citizens of Mecklenburg county, in North Carolina,
about the beginning of our Revolutionary War.
Previous to my becoming more particular, I will suppose you re-
member the Regulation business, which took its rise in or before
the year 1770, and issued and ended in a battle between the Regu-
lators and Governor Tryon, in the spring of 1771. Some of the Reg-
ulators were killed, and the whole dispersed. The Regulators' con-
duct "was a rudis indigestaque moles,'1 as Ovid says, about the be-
ginning of creation; but the embryotic principles of the Revolution
were in their temper and views. They wanted strength, consist-
ency, a Congress and a Washington at their head. Tryon sent his
officers and minions through the State, and imposed the oath of
allegiance upon the people, even as far up as Mecklenburg county.
In the year 1775, after our Revolution began, the principal char-
acters of Mecklenburg county met on two sundry days, in Queen's
Museum in Charlotte, to digest Articles for a State Constitution, in
anticipation that the Province would proceed to do so. In this busi-
ness the leading characters were, the Rev. Hezekiah James Balch,
a graduate of Princeton College, an elegant scholar; Waightstill
Avery, Esq., Attorney at Law; Hezekiah and John McKnitt Alexan-
der, Esq's., Col. Thomas Polk, etc., etc.
Many men, and young men, (myself one,) before magistrates, ab-
jured allegiance to George III., or any other foreign power. At
length, in the same year, 1775, I think, at least positively before
July 4, 1776, the males generally of that county met on a certain
day in Charlotte, and from the head of the Court-house stairs pro-
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
20 HISTORY OK MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
claimed Independence on English Government, by their herald Col.
Thomas Polk. I was present, and saw and heard it, and as a young
man, and then a student in Queen's Museum, was an agent in these
things. I did not then take and keep the dates, and cannot, as to
date, be so particular as I could wish. Capt. James Jack, then of
Charlotte, but now of Elbert county, In Georgia, was sent with the
account of these proceedings to Congress, then in Philadelphia — and
brought back to the county, the thanks of Congress for their zeal —
and the advice of Congress to be a little more patient, until Congress
should take the measures thought to be best.
I would suppose, sir, that some minutes of these things must
be found among the records of the first Congress, that would per-
fectly settle their dates. I am perfectly sure, being present at the
whole of them, they were before our National Declaration of Imlp-
pendence.
Hon. Sir, if the above few things can afford you any gratification,
it will add to the happiness of your friend and humble servant.
Francis Cummins.
Hon. Nathaniel Macon.
(Joseph Graham's Certificate.)*
Vesuvius Furnace, 4th October, 1830.
Dear Sir: — Agreeably to your request, I will give you the details
•of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on the 20th of May,
1775, as well as I can recollect after a lapse of fifty-five years. I
was then a lad about half grown, was present on that occasion (a
looker on).
During the Winter and Spring preceding that event, several pop-
ular meetings of the people were held in Charlotte; two of which I
attended. — Papers were read, grievances stated, and public measures
discussed. As printing was not then common in the South, the
papers were mostly manuscript; one or more of which was from the
pen of the Reverend Doctor Reese, (then of Mecklenburg), which
met with general approbation, and copies of it circulated. It is to
be regretted that those and other papers published at that period,
and the journal of their proceedings, are lost. They would show
much of the spirit and tone of thinking which prepared them for the
measures they afterwards adopted.
On the 20th of May, 1775, besides the two persons elected from
each militia company, (usually called Committee-men), a much
larger number of citizens attended in Charlotte than at any former
meeting — perhaps half the men in the county. The news of the
battle of Lexington, the 19th of April preceding, had arrived. There
♦State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 21
appeared among the people much excitement. The committee were
organized in the Court-house by appointing Abraham Alexander,
Esq., Chairman, and John McKnitt Alexander, Esq., Clerk or Sec-
retary to the meeting.
After reading a number of papers as usual, and much animated
discussion, the question was taken and they resolved to declare
themselves independent. One among other reasons offered, that the
King or Ministry had, by proclamation or some edict, declared the
Colonies out of the protection of the British Crown; they ought,
therefore, to declare themselves out of his protection, and resolve on
independence. That their proceedings might be in due form, a sub-
committee, consisting of Dr. Ephraim Brevard, a Mr. Kennon, an
attorney, and a third person, whom I do not recollect, were ap-
pointed to draft their Declaration. They retired from the Court-
house for some time; but the committee continued in session in it.
One circumstance occurred I distinctly remember: A member of
the committee, who had said but little before, addressed the Chair-
man as follows: "If you resolve on independence, how shall we all
be absolved from the obligations of the oath we took to be true to
King George the III. about four years ago, after the Regulation
battle, when we were sworn whole militia companies together. I
should be glad to know how gentlemen can clear their consciences
after taking that oath." This speech produced confusion. The
Chairman could scarcely preserve order, so many wished to reply.
There appeared great indignation and contempt at the speech of the
member. Some said it was nonsense; others that allegiance and
protection were reciprocal; when protection was withdrawn, alle-
giance ceased; that the oath was only binding while the King pro-
tected us in the enjoyment of our rights and liberties as they ex-
isted at the time it was taken; which he had not done, but now de-
clared us out of his protection; therefore was not binding. Any
man who would interpret it otherwise, was a fool. By way of illus-
tration, (pointing to a green tree near the Court-house), stated, if
he was sworn to do anything as long as the leaves continued on
that tree, it was so long binding; but when the leaves fell, he was
discharged from its obligation. This was said to be certainly appli-
cable in the present case. Out of respect for a worthy citizen, long
since deceased, and his respectable connections, I forbear to mention
names; for, though he was a friend to the cause, a suspicion rested
on him in the public mind for some time after.
The sub-committee appointed to draft the resolutions returned,
and Dr. Ephraim Brevard read their report, as near as I can recol-
lect, in the very words we have since seen them several times in
print. It was unanimously adopted, and shortly after it was moved
22 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
and seconded to have proclamation made and the people collected,
that the proceedings he read at the Court-house door, in order that
all might hear them. It was done, and they were received with
enthusiasm. It was then proposed by some one aloud to give three
cheers and throw up their hats. It was immediately adopted, and
the hats thrown. Several of them lit on the Court-house roof. The
owners had some difficulty to reclaim them.
The foregoing is all from personal knowledge. I understood af-
terwards that Captain James Jack, then of Charlotte, undertook, on
the request of the committee, to carry a copy of their proceedings to
Congress, which then sat in Philadelphia; and on his way, at Salis-
bury, the time of court, Mr. Kennon, who was one of the committee
who assisted in drawing the Declaration, prevailed on Captain Jack
to get his papers, and have them read publicly; which was done,
and the proceedings met with general approbation. But two of the
lawyers, John Dunn and a Mr. Booth, dissented, and asserted they
were treasonable, and endeavored to have Captain Jack detained.
He drew his pistols, and threatened to kill the first man who would
interrupt him, and passed on. The news of this reached Charlotte
in a short time after, and the executive of the committee, whom
they had invested with suitable powers, ordered a party of ten or
twelve armed horsemen to bring said lawyers from Salisbury; when
they were brought, and the case investigated before the committee.
Dunn, on giving security and making fair promises, was permitted
to return, and Booth was sentenced to go to Camden, in South Caro-
lina, out of the sphere of his influence. My brother George Graham
and the late Col. John Carruth were of the party that went to Salis-
bury; and it is distinctly remembered that when in Charlotte they
came home at night, in order to provide for their trip to Camden;
and that they and two others of the party took Booth to that place.
This was the first military expedition from Mecklenburg in the Rev-
olutionary war, and believed to be the first anywhere to the South.
Yours respectfully,
J. Graiiam.
Dr. Jos. M'Kt. Alexander, Mecklenburg, N. Carolina.
Certificate (Graham, Hutchison, Clark, Robiiison.)*
State of North Carolixa,
Mecklenburg County.
At the request of Col. William Polk, of Raleigh, made to Major-
General George Graham, soliciting him to procure all the informa-
tion that could be obtained at this late period, of the transactions
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 23
which took place in the county of Mecklenburg, in the year 1775, as
it respected the people of that county having declared Independence;
of the time when the Declaration was made; who were the princi-
pal movers and leaders, and the members who composed the body
of Patriots who made the Declaration, and signed the same.
We, the undersigned citizens of the said county, and of the several
ages set forth opposite to each of our names, do certify, and on our
honor declare, that we were present in the town of Charlotte, in the
said county of Mecklenburg, on the 19th day of May, 1775, when two
persons elected from each Captain's Company in said county, ap-
peared as delegates, to take into consideration the state of the coun-
try, and to adopt such measures as to them seemed best, to secure
their lives, liberty, and property, from the storm which was gather-
ing, and had burst upon their fellow-citizens to the Eastward, by a
British army, under the authority of the British King and Parlia-
ment.
The order for the election of Delegates was given by Col. Thomas
Polk, the commanding officer, of the militia of the county, with a re-
quest that their powers should be ample, touching any measure that
should be proposed.
"We do further certify and declare, that to the best of our recollec-
tion and belief, the delegation was complete from every company,
and that the meeting took place in the Court-house, about 12 o'clock
on the said 19th day of May, 1775, when Abraham Alexander was
chosen Chairman, and Dr. Ephraim Brevard Secretary. That the
Delegates continued in session until in the night of that day; that
on the 20th they again met, when a committee, under the direction
of the Delegates, had formed several resolves, which were read,
and which went to declare themselves, and the people of Mecklen-
burg county, Free and Independent of the King and Parliament of
Great Britain — and that, from that day thenceforth, all allegiance
and political relation was absolved between the good people of
Mecklenburg and the King of Great Britain; which Declaration was
signed by every member of the Delegation, under the shouts and
huzzas of a very large assembly of the people of the county, who
had come to know the issue of the meeting. We further believe,
that the Declaration of Independence was drawn up by the Secre-
tary, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, and that it was conceived and brought
about through the instrumentality and popularity of Col. Thomas
Polk, Abraham Alexander, John McKnitt Alexander, Adam Alexan-
der, Ephraim Brevard, John Phifer, and Hezekiah Alexander, with
some others.
We do further certify and declare, that in a few days after the
Delegates adjourned, Captain James Jack, of the town of Char-
24 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
lotte, was engaged to carry the resolves to the President of Con-
gress, and to our Representatives — one copy for each; and that his
expenses were paid by a voluntary subscription. And we do know
that Captain Jack executed the trust, and returned with answers,
both from the President and our Delegates in Congress, expressive
of their entire approbation of the course that had been adopted,
recommending a continuance in the same; and that the time would
soon be, when the whole Continent would follow our example.
We further certify and declare, that the measures which were
adopted at the time before mentioned, had a general influence on the
people of this county to unite them in the cause of liberty and the
country, at that time; that the same unanimity and patriotism con-
tinued unimpaired to the close of the war; and that the resolutions
had considerable effect in harmonizing the people in two or three ad-
joining counties.
That a committee of Safety for the county were elected, who
were clothed with civil and military power, and under their au-
thority several disaffected persons in Rowan, and Tryon (now Lin-
coln county), were sent for, examined, and conveyed (after it was
satisfactorily proven they were inimical) to Camden, in South
Carolina, for safe keeping.
We do further certify, that the acts passed by the committee of
Safety, were received as the Civil Law of the land in many cases,
and that Courts of Justice for the decision of controversies between
the people were held, and we have no recollection that dissatisfac-
tion existed in any instance with regard to the judgments of said
courts.
We are not, at this late period, able to give the names of all the
Delegation who formed the Declaration of Independence; but can
safely declare as to the following persons being of the number, viz.:
Thomas Polk, Abraham Alexander, John McKnitt Alexander, Adam
Alexander, Ephraim Brevard, John Phifer, Hezekiah James Balch,
Benjamin Patton, Hezekiah Alexander, Richard Barry, William
Graham, Matthew M'Clure, Robert Irwin, Zachias Wilson, Neil Mor-
rison, John Flennegen, John Queary, Ezra Alexander.
In testimony of all and every part herein set forth, we have here-
unto set our hands.
Geo. Graham, aged 61, near 62.
Wm. Hutchison, " 68.
Jonas Clark, " 61.
Rob't Robinson. " 68.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 25
(John Simeson to Col. William Polk.)*
Providence, January 20, 1820.
Dear Sir: — After considerable delay, occasioned partly to obtain
what information I could, in addition to my own knowledge of the
facts in relation to our Declaration of Independence, and partly by
a precarious, feeble old age, I now write to you in answer to yours
of the 24th ult.
I have conversed with many of my old friends and others, and
all agree in the point, but few can state the particulars; for although
our country is renowned for general intelligence, we have still
some that don't read the public prints. You know, in the language
of the day, every Province had its Congress, and Mecklenburg had
its county Congress, as legally chosen as any other, and assumed an
attitude until then without a precedent; but, alas those worthies who
conceived and executed that bold measure, are no more; and one
reason why so little new light can be thrown on an old truth, may
be this— and I appeal to yourself for the correctness of the re-
mark— we who are now called Revolutionary men, were then
thoughtless, precipitate youths; we cared not who conceived the
bold act, our business was to adopt and support it. Yourself, sir,
in your eighteenth year and on the spot, your worthy father, the
most popular and influential character in the county, and yet you
cannot state much from recollection. Your father, as commanding
officer of the county, issued orders to the captains to appoint two
men from each company to represent them in the committee. It
was done. Neill Morrison, John Flennegen, from this company;
Charles Alexander, John McKnitt Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander,
Abraham Alexander, Esq., John Phifer, David Reese, Adam Alexan-
der, Dickey Barry, John Queary, with others, whose names I cannot
obtain. As to the names of those who drew up the Declaration, I
am inclined to think Dr. Brevard was the principal, from his known
talents in composition. It was, however, in substance and form, like
that great national act agreed on thirteen months after. Ours was
towards the close of May, 1775. In addition to what I have said,
the same committee appointed three men to secure all the military
stores for the country's use — Thomas Polk, John Phifer, and Joseph
Kennedy. I was under arms near the head of the line, near Col.
Polk, and heard him distinctly read a long string of Grievances, the
Declaration and Military Order above. I likewise heard Col. Polk
have two warm disputes with two men of the county, who said the
measures were rash and unnecessary. He was applauded and they
silenced. I was then in my 22d year, an enemy to usurpation and
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
26 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
tyranny of every kind, with a retentive memory, and fond of liberty,
that had a doubt arisen in my mind that the act would be contro-
verted, proof would not have been wanting; but I comfort myself
that none but the self-important peace-party and blue-lights of the
East, will have the assurance to oppose it any further. The biogra-
pher of Patrick Henry (Mr. Wirt) says he first suggested Independ-
ence in the Virginia Convention; but it is known they did not reduce
it to action — so that it will pass for nothing. The Courts likewise
acted independently. I myself heard a dispute take place on the
bench, and an acting magistrate was actually taken and sent to
prison by an order of the Chairman.
Thus, sir, have I thrown together all that I can at this time. I
am too blind to write fair, and too old to write much sense — but if
my deposition before the Supreme Court of the United States would
add more weight to a truth so well known here, it would be at the
service of my fellow-citizens of the country and State generally.
I am, sir, your friend and humble servant.
John Simeson, Sen.
P. S. — I will give you a short anecdote. An aged man near me,
on being asked if he knew anything of this affair, replied, "Och,
aye, Tarn Polk declared Independence long before anybody else."
This old man is 81.
(Certificate of Isaac Alexander.)*
I hereby certify that I was present in Charlotte on the 19th and
20th days of May, 1775, when a regular deputation from all the
Captains' companies of militia in the county of Mecklenburg, to-wit:
Col. Thomas Polk, Adam Alexander, Lieut. Col. Abram Alexander,
John McKnitt Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Ephraim Brevard,
and a number of others, who met to consult and take measures for
the peace and tranquility of the citizens of said county, and who
appointed Abraham Alexander their Chairman, and Doctor Ephraim
Brevard Secretary; who, after due consultation, declared themselves
absolved from their allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and
drew up a Declaration of their Independence, which was unani-
mously adopted; and employed Capt. James Jack to carry copies
thereof to Congress, who accordingly went. These are a part of the
transactions that took place at that time, as far as my recollection
serves me.
Isaac Alexander.
October 8, 1830.
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 2~J
(Certificate of Samuel Wilson.)*
State of North Carolina,
Mecklenburg County.
I do hereby certify, that in May, 1775, a committee or delegation
from the different militia companies in this county met in Charlotte;
and after consulting together, they publicly declared their independ-
ence on Great Britain, and on her Government. This was done be-
fore a large collection of people, who highly approved of it. I was
then and there present, and heard it read from the Court-house
door. Certified by me. Samuel Wilson.
(Certificate of John Davidson.)*
Beaver Dam, October 5, 1830.
Dear Sir: — I received your note of the 25th of last month, requir-
ing information relative to the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde-
pendence. As I am, perhaps, the only person living, who was a
member of that Convention, and being far advanced in years, and
not having my mind frequently directed to that circumstance for
some years, I can give you but a very succinct history of that trans-
action. There were two men chosen from each captain's company,
to meet in Charlotte, to take the subject into consideration. John
McKnitt Alexander and myself were chosen from one company;
and many other members were there that I now recollect, whose
names I deem unnecessary to mention. When the members met,
and were perfectly organized for business, a motion was made to de-
clare ourselves independent of the Crown of Great Britain, which
was carried by a large majority. Dr. Bphraim Brevard was then
appointed to give us a sketch of the Declaration of Independence,
which he did. James Jack was appointed to take it on to the
American Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia, with particular in-
structions to deliver it to the North Carolina Delegation in Con-
gress, (Hooper and Caswell). When Jack returned, he stated that
the Declaration was presented to Congress, and the reply was, that
they highly esteemed the patriotism of the citizens of Mecklenburg;
but they thought the measure too premature.
I am confident that the Declaration of Independence by the peo-
ple of Mecklenburg was made public at least twelve months before
that of the Congress of the United States.
I do certify that the foregoing statement, relative to the Meck-
lenburg Independence is correct, and which I am willing to be
qualified to, should it be required. Yours respectfully,
Doct. J. M. Alexander. John Davidson.
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
28 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Note. — The following is a copy of an original paper furnished by
the writer of the foregoing certificate, from which it would seem,
that, from the period of the Mecklenburg Declaration, every indi-
vidual friendly to the American cause was furnished by the Chair-
man of that meeting, Abraham Alexander, with testimonials of the
character he had assumed; and in this point of view the paper af-
fords strong collateral testimony of the correctness of many of
the foregoing certificates.
North Carolina,
Mecklenburg County,
November 28, 1775.
These may certify to all whom may concern, that the bearer
hereof, William Henderson, is allowed here to be a true friend to
liberty, and signed the Association.
Certified by Abr'm Alexander,
Chairman of the Committee of P. S.
(Letter From J. G. M. Ramsey.)*
Mecklenburg, T. Oct. 1, 1830.
Dear Sir: — Yours of 21st ultimo was duly received. In answer I
have only to say, that little is in my possession on the subject
alluded to which you have not already seen. Subjoined are the cer-
tificates of two gentlemen of this county, whose respectability and
veracity are attested by their acquaintances here, as well as by the
accompanying testimonials of the magistrates in whose neighbor-
hood they reside. With this you will also receive extracts from
letters on the same subject from gentlemen well known to you, and
to the country at large.
I am, very respectfully yours, etc.,
J. G. M. Ramsey.
(Certificate of James Johnson.)*
I, James Johnson, now of Knox county, Tennessee, but formerly
of Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, do hereby certify, that to
the best of my recollection, in the month of May, 1775, there were
several meetings in Charlotte concerning the impending war. Being
young, I was not called on to take an active part in the same; but
one thing I do positively remember, that she (Mecklenburg county)
did meet and hold a Convention, declared independence, and sent a
man to Philadelphia with the proceedings. And I do further cer-
tify, that I am well acquainted with several of the men who formed
or constituted said Convention, viz.: John McKnitt Alexander, Hez-
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 29
ekiah Alexander, Abraham Alexander, Adam Alexander, Robert
Irwin, Neill Morrison, John Flennegen, John Queary.
Certified by me this 11th day of October, 1827.
James Johnson,
In my seventy-third year.
(Certificate of Elijah Johnson and James Wilhite.)*
We, Elijah Johnson and James Wilhite, acting Justices of the
Peace for the county of Knox, do certify, that we have been a long
time well acquainted with Samuel Montgomery and James Johnson,
both residents of Knox county; and that they are entitled to full
credit, and any statement they may make to implicit confidence.
Given under our hands and seals this 4th day of October, 1830.
Elijah Johnson, [Seal]
James Wilhite, [Seal.]
Justices of the Peace for Knox County.
Note. — Mr. Montgomery's certificate does not purport to state
the facts as having come under his own personal observation. It
is therefore omitted in this publication.
Instructions Given to Mecklenburg Representatives to the Provin-
cial Congress, September 1, 1776.**
1. You are instructed to vote that the late province of North Car-
olina is and of right ought to be, a free and independent State, in-
vested with all the power of Legislation, capable of making Laws
to regulate all its internal policy, subject only in its external con-
nections and foreign commerce, to a negative of a continental
Senate.
2. You are instructed to vote for the Execution of a civil Govern-
ment under the authority of the People for the future security of
all the Rights, Privileges and Prerogatives of the State, and the
private, natural and unalienable Rights of the constituting members
thereof, either as Men or Christians. If this should not be confirmed
in Congress or Convention — protest.
3. You are instructed to vote that an equal Representation be es-
tablished, and that the qualifications required to enable any person
or persons to have a voice in Legislation, may not be secured too
high, but that every Freeman who shall be called upon to support
Government either in person or property, may be admitted thereto.
If this should not be confirmed, protest and remonstrate.
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
**Wheeler's History, page 260. Date according to Governor
Swain.
30 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
4. You are instructed to vote that Legislation be not a divided
right, and that no man, or body of men be invested with a negative
on the voice of the People duly collected, and that no honors or dig-
nities be conferred, for life, or made hereditary, on any person or
persons, either legislative or executive. If this should not be con-
firmed— protest and remonstrate.
5. You are instructed to vote that all and every person or per-
sons, seized or possessed of any estate, real or personal, agreeable
to the last establishment, be confirmed in their seizure and pos-
session, to all intents and purposes in law, who have not forfeited
their right to the protection of the State by their criminal practices
towards the same. If this should not be confirmed — protest.
6. You are instructed to vote that Deputies to represent this State
in a Continental Congress be appointed in and by the supreme Leg-
islative body of the State, the form of nomination to be submitted
to, if free, and also that all officers the influence of whose office is
equally to extend to every part of the State, be appointed in the
same manner and form — likewise give your consent to the establish-
ing the old political divisions, if it should be voted in convention,
or to new ones if similar. On such establishments taking place you
are instructed to vote, in the general, that all officers, who are to
exercise their authority in any of the said districts, be recommended
to the trust only by the freemen of said division — to be subject,
however, to the general laws and regulations of the State. If this
should not be substantially confirmed — protest.
7. You are instructed to move and insist that the people you im-
mediately represent be acknowledged to be a distinct county of this
State as formerly of the late province, with the additional privilege
of annually electing in their own officers both civil and military,
together with the election of Clerks and Sheriffs, by the freemen
of the same. The choice to be confirmed by sovereign authority of
the State, and the officers so invested to be under the jurisdiction
of the State and liable to its cognizance and inflictions, in case of
malpractice. If this should not be confirmed, protest and remon-
strate.
8. You are instructed to vote that no chief justice, no secretary
of State, no auditor-general, no surveyor-general, no practicing law-
yer, no clerk of any court of record, no sheriff, and no person hold-
ing a military office in this State, shall be a representative of the
people in Congress or Convention. If this should not be confirmed —
contend for it.
9. You are instructed to vote that all claims against the public,
except such as accrue upon attendance of Congress or Convention,
be first submitted to the inspection of a committee of nine or more
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 3 1
men, inhabitants of the county where said claimant is a resident,
and without the approbation of said committee, it shall not be ac-
cepted by the public, for which purpose you are to move and insist
that a law be enacted to impower the freemen of each county to
choose a committee of not less than nine men, of whom none are to
be military officers. If this should not be confirmed — protest and
remonstrate.
10. You are instructed to refuse to enter into any combinations
of secrecy as members of Congress or Convention, and also to refuse
to subscribe any ensnaring jests binding you to an unlimited sub-
jection to the determination of Congress or Convention.
11. You are instructed to move and insist that the public accounts
fairly stated shall be regularly kept in proper books, open to the in-
spection of all persons whom it may concern. If this should not be
confirmed — contend for it.
12. You are instructed to move and insist that the power of Coun-
ty Courts be much more extensive than under the former constitu-
tion, both with respect to matters of property and breaches of the
peace. If not confirmed — contend for it.
13. You are instructed to assent and consent to the establishment
of the Christian Religion as contained in the scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments, and more briefly comprised in the 39 Articles
of the Church of England, excluding the 37th Article, together with
all the Articles excepted and not to be imposed on dissenters by the
act of toleration; and clearly held forth in the confession of faith
compiled by the assembly of divines at Westminster, to be the Reli-
gion of the State, to the utter exclusion forever of all and every
other (falsely so called) Religion, whether Pagan or Papal, and
that the full, free and peaceable enjoyment thereof be secured to
all and every constituent member of the State as their unalienable
right as Freemen, without the imposition of rites and ceremonies,
whether claiming civil or ecclesiastical power for their source, and
that a confession and profession of the Religion so established shall
be necessary in qualifying any person for public trust in the State.
If this should not be confirmed — protest and remonstrate.
14. You are instructed to oppose to the utmost any particular
church or set of clergymen being invested with power to decree
rites and ceremonies and to decide in controversies of faith to be
submitted to under the influence of penal laws — you are also to op-
pose the establishment of any mode of worship to be supported to
the opposition of the rights of conscience, together with the de-
struction of private property. You are to understand that under
modes of worship are comprehended the different forms of swear-
ing by law required. You are moreover to oppose the establishing
32 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
an ecclesiastical supremacy in the sovereign authority of the State.
You are to oppose the toleration of the popish idolatrous worship.
If this should not be confirmed — protest and remonstrate.
15. You are instructed to move and insist that not less than
four-fifths of the body of which you are members, shall, in voting,
be deemed a majority. If this should not be confirmed — contend
for it.
16. You are instructed to give your voices to and for every motion
and bill made or brought into the Congress or Convention, where
they appear to be for public utility and in no ways repugnant to
the above instructions.
17. Gentlemen, the foregoing instructions, you are not only to
look on as instructions, but as charges, to which you are desired to
take special heed as the general rule of your conduct as our Repre-
sentatives, and we expect you will exert yourselves to the utmost
of your ability to obtain the purposes given you in charge, and
wherein you fail either in obtaining or opposing, you are hereby
ordered to enter your protest against the vote of the Congress or
Convention as is pointed out to you in the above instructions.
THREE COPIES OF THE DECLARATION.
As some writers were confused by the difference between
the Resolves and the Declaration, so they were also by three
different alleged copies of the latter. The first, or Martin
copy, is given in the ninth chapter of the first volume, and
was secured by Judge Martin, as he says, in Western North
Carolina prior to 1800. As it would have been virtually im-
possible for an incorrect copy to have co-existed with the
original, which was destroyed in 1800, this is obviously a
genuine reproduction.
Following is the Davie copy, which was written from
memory by John McKnitt Alexander soon after the burning
of his house and the official papers :
1st. Resolved, That whosoever directly or indirectly abbetted or
in any way or form countenanced the unchartered and dangerous
invasion of our rights as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to
this country, to America, and to the inherent and inalienable rights
of man.
2d. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do
hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the
JtylJfrs&tM
dLY/u^r*^9 tt*< o&4^^ <-^ e^x.
l<£^Z^<&^?7i
^/^TTL, ^ <^<Z^Zf^ ^Zi^
' l^_j*~^trh
^*<».
t^^LSLst^ni^
SIGNATURES OF PROMINENT CHARACTERS IN MECKLEN-
BURG HISTORY.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 33
mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance
to the British Crown, and abjure all political connection, contract
or association, with that nation who have wantonly trampled on
our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of Ameri-
can patriots at Lexington.
3d. Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and in-
pendent people; are and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-
governing association, under the control of no other power but that
of our God and the general government of the Congress; to the
maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each
other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most
sacred honour.
4th. Resolved, That as we now acknowledge the existence and
control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, within this coun-
ty, we do hereby ordain and adopt as a rule of life, all, each and
every of our former laws, wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great
Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immu-
nities, or authority therein.
5th. Resolved, That it is further decreed, that all, each and every
military officer in this county is hereby reinstated in his former
command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulations.
And that every member present of this delegation, shall henceforth
be a civil officer, viz: a Justice of the Peace, in the character of a
"Committeeman," to issue process, hear and determine all matters of
controversy according to said adopted laws, and to preserve peace,
union and harmony in said county; and to use every exertion to
spread the love of country and the fire of freedom throughout Amer-
ica, until a more general and organized government be established
in this province.
The Garden copy, which is almost exactly similar to the
Martin copy, was published in 'Garden's Anecdotes of the
Revolution, in 1828, one year before the publication of Mar-
tin's history. Alexander Garden acknowledges as his source
of information Dr. William Read, who attended Dr.
Ephraim Brevard in his last illness in 1777, at the home of
John McKnitt Alexander. Both the Garden and Martin
copies are undoubtedly genuine reproductions of the origi-
nal; the first was published in 1828 and the other in 1829,
and Garden and Martin both stated that they did not know
of the existence of the other copy until both had appeared in
print. The Garden copy is as follows :
34 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Resolved, That whoever directly or indirectly abets, or in any
way, form, or manner, countenances the invasion of our rights, as
attempted hy the Parliament of Great Britain, is an enemy to his
country, to America, and to the Rights of Man.
Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby
dissolve the political bonds which have connected us with the
Mother Country, and absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the
British Crown, abjuring all political connection with a nation that
has wantonly trampled on our right and liberties, and inhumanly
shed the blood of Americans at Lexington.
Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and inde-
pendent people, that we are and of right ought to be a sovereign and
self-governing people, under the power of God and the General Con-
gress, to the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge
to each other our mutual co-operation — our lives — our fortunes — and
our sacred honours.
Resolved, That we do hereby ordain and adopt, as rules of con-
duct, all and each of our former laws, and the Crown of Great
Britain cannot be considered, hereafter, as holding any rights, priv-
ileges or immunities among us.
Resolved, That all officers, both civil and military, in this County,
be entitled to exercise the same powers and authorities as hereto-
fore— that every member of this delegation shall henceforth be a
civil officer, and exercise the powers of a Justice of the Peace, issue
process, hear and determine controversies, according to law, pre-
serve peace, union and harmony in the county, and use every exer-
tion to spread the love of liberty and of country, until a more gen-
eral and better organized system of governmnet be established.
Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions be transmitted by ex-
press to the President of the Continental Congress, assembled at
Philadelphia, to be laid before that body.
Resolves of May 31, 1775, Copied from the South Carolina Gazette
and Country Journal of June 13, 1775, No. 498 — Printed at
Charleston by Charles Crouch, on the Bay, Corner of Elliott
Street*
Ciiarlotte-town, Mecklenburg County, May 31, 177.",.
This day the Committee of this county met, and passed the fol-
lowing Resolves:
Whereas, By an Address presented to His Majesty by both Houses
of Parliament, in February last, the American colonies are declared
♦Copies of this paper are now on file in Charleston, S. C, and
London. England.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 35
to be in a state of actual rebellion, we conceive, that all laws and
commissions confirmed by, or derived from the authority of the
King or Parliament, are annulled and vacated, and the former civil
constitution of these colonies, for the present, wholly suspended.
To provide, in some degree, for the exigencies of this county, in the
present alarming period, we deem it proper and necessary to pass
the following Resolves, viz.:
I. That all commissions, civil and military, heretofore granted
by the Crown, to be exercised in these colonies, are null and void,
and the constitution of each particular colony wholly suspended.
II. That the Provincial Congress of each province, under the
direction of the great Continental Congress, is invested with all
legislative and executive powers within their respective provinces,
and that no other legislative or executive power, does, or can exist,
at this time, in any of these colonies.
III. As all former laws are now suspended in this province, and
the Congress have not yet provided others, we judge it necessary,
for the better preservation of good order, to form certain rules and
regulations for the internal government of this county, until laws
shall be provided for us by the Congress.
IV. That the inhabitants of this county do meet on a certain day
appointed by this Committee, and having formed themselves into
nine companies (to-wit), eight in the county, and one in the cown
of Charlotte, do chuse a Colonel and other military officers, who
shall hold and exercise their several powers by virtue of this choice,
and independent of the Crown of Great Britain, and former consti-
tution of this province.
V. That for the better preservation of the peace and administra-
tion of justice, each of those companies do chuse from their own
body, two discreet freeholders, who shall be empowered, each by
himself and singly, to decide and determine all matters of contro-
versy, arising within said company, under the sum of twenty shil-
lings; and jointly and together, all controversies under the sum of
forty shillings; yet so as that their decisions may admit of appeal
to the Convention of the Select-Men of the county; and also that
any one of these men shall have power to examine and commit to
confinement persons accused of petit larceny.
VI. That those two Select-Men, thus chosen, do jointly and to-
gether chuse from the body of their particular company, two persons
properly qualified to act as Constables, who may assist them in the
execution of their office.
VII. That upon the complaint of any persons to either of these
Select-Men, he do issue his warrant, directed to the Constable, com-
36 HISTORY <>!• MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
manding him to bring the aggressor before him or them, to an
said complaint.
VIII. That these eighteen Select-Men, thus appointed, do meet
every third Thursday in January, April. July, and October, at the
Court-House, in Charlotte, to hear and determine all matters of con-
troversy, for sums exceeding forty shillings, also appeals; and in
cases of felony, to commit the person or persons convicted thereof
to close confinement, until the Provincial Congress shall provide
and establish laws and modes of proceeding in all such cases.
IX. That these eighteen Select-Men, thus convened, do chuse a
Clerk to record the transactions of said Convention, and that said
Clerk, upon the application of any person or persons aggrieved, do
issue his warrant to one of the Constables of the company to which
the offender belongs, directing said Constable to summons and warn
said offender to appear before the Convention, at their next meeting,
to answer the aforesaid complaint.
X. That any person making complaint upon oath, to the Clerk,
or any member of the Convention, that he has reason to suspect,
that any person or persons indebted to him, in a sum above forty
shillings, intend clandestinely to withdraw from the county, without
paying such debt, the Clerk or such member shall issue his warrant
to the Constable, commanding him to take said person or persons
into safe custody, until the next sitting of the Convention.
XI. That when a debtor for a sum below forty shillings shall
abscond and leave the county, the warrant granted as aforesaid,
shall extend to any goods or chattels of said debtor, as may he
found, and such goods or chattels be seized and held in custody by
the Constable, for the space of thirty days; in which time, if the
debtor fail to return and discharge the debt, the Constable shall
return the warrant to one of the Select-Men of the company, where
the goods are found, who shall issue orders to the Constable to sell
such a part of said goods as shall amount to the sum due; That
when the debt exceeds forty shillings, the return shall be made to
the Convention, who shall issue orders for sale.
XII. That all receivers and collectors of quit-rents, public and
county taxes, do pay the same into the hands of the chairman of
this Committee, to be by them disbursed as the public exigencies
may require; and that such receivers and collectors proceed no
further in their office, until they be approved of by, and have given
to, this Committee, good and sufficient security, for a faithful return
of such monies when collected.
XIII. That the Committee be accountable to the county for the
application of all monies received from such public officers.
XIV. That all these officers hold their commissions during the
pleasure of their several constituents.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 2)7
XV. That this committee will sustain all damages that ever here-
after may accrue to all or any of these officers thus appointed, and
thus acting, on account of their obedience and conformity to these
Resolves.
XVI. That whatever person shall hereafter receive a commis-
sion from the Crown, or attempt to exercise any such commission
heretofore received, shall be deemed an enemy to his country, and
upon information being being made to the Captain of the company
in which he resides, the said company shall cause him to be appre-
hended, and conveyed before the two Select-Men of the said com-
pany, who, upon proof of the fact, shall commit him, the said
offender, to safe custody, until the next sitting of the Committee,
who shall deal with him as prudence may direct.
XVII. That any person refusing to yield obedience to the above
Resolves, shall be considered equally criminal, and liable to the
same punishment, as the offenders above last mentioned.
XVIII. That these Resolves be in full force and virtue, until
instructions from the Provincial Congress, regulating the jurispru-
dence of the province, shall provide otherwise, or the legislative
body of Great Britain, resigns its unjust and arbitrary pretentions
with respect to America.
XIX. That the eight militia companies in the county, provide
themselves with proper arms and accoutrements, and hold them-
selves in readiness to execute the commands and directions of the
General Congress of this province and this Committee.
XX. That the Committee appoint Colonel Thomas Polk, and Doc-
tor Joseph Kenedy, to purchase 300 lb. of powder, 600 lb. of lead,
1,000 flints, for the use of the militia of this county, and deposit
the same in such place as the Committee may hereafter direct.
Signed by order of the Committee.
Eph. Brevard,
Clerk of the Committee.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN JOHN VAUGHN AND COLONEL
PETER FORCE.
The following letters were secured many years ago
through the kindness of William L. Force, of Washington,
D. C, and are here published for the first time.* John
Vaughn, whose inquiry elicited the valuable reply from
Col. Force, was born in England in 1756, was a brother of
♦Preserved in manuscript by Lyman J. Draper.
38 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Benjamin Vaughn, the friend and correspondent « f Frank-
lin, came to America in 1 7 7 ' > . and became acquainted with
Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams and others; was
president of the American Philosophical Society and a man
of extensive learning- and strong character, and died in Phil-
adelphia in 1 841.
Colonel Peter Force, historian, was born at Passaic Falls,
New Jersey, November 26, 1790. His father, William
Force, was a soldier in the Revolution, and moved to New
York city in 1793, and his son there learned the printer's
trade and was president of the Typographical Society in
181 2. In 1815, he moved to Washington City, where he
published an annual called the National Calendar, from
1820 to 1836; in 1823, he established the National Journal
in support of Adams for the presidency; was councilman
and alderman; mayor from 1836 to 1840; rose to the rank
of major-general of militia; and was president of the Na-
tional Institute. He published several volumes of import-
ance, the greatest of them being the American Archives, in
nine volumes. Gen. Force died in Washington January 23,
1868, leaving two sons, William L. Force and Manning F.
Force, the latter having been a general in the Civil War,
and afterwards becoming a judge in Ohio.
In reading these letters, it is to be remembered that they
were written in 1841, and it is obvious that neither of the
writers had read even all the literature on the subject which
was then obtainable. Col. Force recognizes the overwhelm-
ing evidence in support of the authenticity of the Mecklen-
burg Declaration, and for want of a better explanation of
the difference between the Declaration and the Resolves,
endeavors as others have done, to account for it on the as-
sumption that there was but one meeting of the committee
and that one or the other of the two documents was incor-
rect. Not until the publication of the Colonial Records,
nearly half a century later, was it known that these meetings
were frequent not only in Mecklenburg, but in other coun-
ties in North Carolina, and then it was made known that
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 39
the Resolves were adopted at a meeting of the Mecklenburg"
Committee held eleven days after the convention, and that
they were amended and added to at similar meetings con-
vened subsequently.
{From John Vaughn to Col. Force.)
Philadelphia, Nov. 26, 1841.
Peter Force, Esq., Washington:
Dr. Sir: — Mr. Jefferson has been accused of borrowing from the
Mecklenburg, N. C, Declaration sundry expressions which he made
use of in his draught of the Declaration of Independence, and the
question was discussed at a meeting of our Historical Society, when
a paragraph was produced from a newspaper stating that you had
found a North Carolina paper in which the Mecklenburg Declara-
tion was published soon after the resolutions were adopted, which
did not contain the expressions said to be borrowed by Mr. Jeffer-
son. Knowing your correctness, they were desirous of learning
whether you had authorized such information. Oblige me by in-
forming me when the Mecklenburg Declaration was made, and
what was the date of the newspaper and its title, and whether the
expressions alluded to were not found in the original Declaration,
and in the published one, and, if not, when probably they were in-
troduced in future publications and at what time.
It is desirable to put this question to rights whilst it can be done,
and no evidence can be more conclusive than yours.
I remain yours truly,
J>To. Vaughn.
{From Col. Force to John Vaughn.)
Washington, Dec. 11, 1841.
Dear Sir: — I avail myself of the earliest opportunity in my power
to reply to your letter of the 26th of November. The Mecklenburg
Resolutions, commonly called "The Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde-
pendence," were adopted in May, 1775. There are two papers which
are said to be copies of these Resolutions, one is in manuscript (A),
where the Resolutions are dated May 20th; the other is printed (B),
where they are dated May 31st* of that year. You ask if certain
expressions are not found in the original Declaration, and in the
published one. By "the original Declaration" I suppose you mean
*A, was the Declaration; B, was the Resolves. — D. A. T.
40 HISTORY OK MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the manuscript copy; for of the existence of the original at this time
nothing is known. We are told that the original book, that is, the
book in which the Resolutions were originally entered, was burned
in April, 1800. It is not pretended that the manuscript now in the
executive office at Raleigh is the original Declaration — there it pur-
ports to be nothing more than a mere copy, and is incorporated into
a notice of the transactions of that period, drawn up some time
afterwards, apparently for publication. When it was written is not
stated, but it bears evidence on the face of it that it was written
after the 4th of July, 1776.* It was first published in the Raleigh
Register of April 30, 1819. "The expressions Mr. Jefferson has been
accused of borrowing for his draft of the Declaration of Independ-
ence," are found in this copy.
That the Resolutions were published soon after its date. Governor
Martin's Proclamation of the 8th of August, 1775, furnishes evidence.
The Governor says: ''And whereas, I have also seen a most infa-
mous publication in the Cape Fear Mercury, importing to be the
Resolves of a set of people styling themselves a committee for the
county of Mecklenburg, most traitoriously declaring the entire dis-
solution of the Laws, Government and Constitution of their county,
and setting up a system of Rule and Regulation repugnant to the
Laws, and subversive of His Majesty's Government." After a care-
ful research and extensive inquiry, I have not been so fortunate as
to find a copy of this newspaper, and, of course, have never said
that I had found a North Carolina newspaper in which the Mecklen-
burg Declaration was published soon after the Resolutions were
adopted.
But, I have two of the early printed copies of the Mecklenburg
Resolutions. One is in the New York Journal of the 29th of June,
the other in the Massachusetts Spy of the 12th of July, 1775. The
Resolutions, then dated May 31st, do not contain the expressions
you refer to. They were printed in New York more than a year be-
fore the Declaration of Independence, in less than a month after
their date, within a week of the time when the messenger by
whom they were transmitted to the Continental Congress was in
Philadelphia, and at the very time when the publication of a forged
or false copy must have been followed by instant detection and ex-
posure. They were then received as genuine, and I believe their
authority has not, to this day, been disputed. "With regard to the
date, it is possible that in transcribing or printing a figure (3) may
have been substituted* for a (2), and then made May 31st instead
*The copy referred to was the Davie copy, made in 1800. — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 41
of May 21st. This is altogether possible;* but it does not change
the character or affect the genuineness of the paper. It is proper to
call your attention to the fact that though the printed copy con-
tains the Resolutions which form the Declaration of Independence,
it does not give all the Resolves adopted at the same time by the
Committee. This remark applies also to the manuscript copy; but
there is this difference between the two copies— the writer of the
manuscript takes no notice of any omitted resolutions; he gives five
(numbering the Preamble as one of them), as all that were "unani-
mously ordained," leaving every one to believe, and such has been
the universal belief, that he had given the whole. The printed copy
of the 29th of June, after the Preamble and four Resolutions, gives
the substance of the succeeding eleven, and then the sixteenth Re-
solve at length.* The eleven omitted Resolutions relate exclusively
to the county of Mecklenburg, or to the province of North Carolina,
and from the "System of Rule and Regulation" for the temporary
government of that county or the province mentioned in Gov. Mar-
tin's Proclamation. As these eleven Resolutions apply only to the
local affairs of the county or province, we can readily account for
the omission by a printer in New York; but it is not easy to imag-
ine why the same Resolutions (that is, the Resolutions containing
the Rules and Regulations), were omitted by the writer of the man-
uscript, if they were in his possession when he drew up his narra-
tive, unless we suppose he intended to cover the omission by his 5th
r"£olution.
The two copies differ very widely in another respect. The manu-
script does not "declare the entire dissolution of the Laws, Govern-
ment and Constitution of this country." It applies to Mecklenburg
county alone; that county only is declared independent — "a sover-
eign and self-governing association" by itself, separated alike from
the Crown and the province, and leaving North Carolina and all the
*The subsequent discovery of the full series of resolves in the
South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal confirmed the correct-
ness of the date (May 31), when they were adopted. For reasons
unknown, the Declaration of May 20th was not submitted for pub-
lication.— D. A. T.
*The entire set of Resolves of the 31st of May had not at this
period been discovered, and hence Col. Force was not aware that
they really numbered twenty beside the Preamble. It is also to be
borne in mind that he was endeavoring to construe the Resolves as
the Declaration, when in fact they were merely supplementary. —
D. A. T.
42 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
other colonies in subjection to the Crown. The Declaration in the
printed copy is of an entirely different character. It does declare
"the entire dissolution" in that the whole country is declared inde-
pendent* The Declaration is not for one county of one colony; it
is for all the colonies.
It is a Declaration of the independence of the United Colonies,
and made by men who saw far into the future — whose patriotism
was not limited by the boundaries of their own county. At that
early day the men of Mecklenburg marked out the true course to be
pursued by the whole continent for a redress of grievances; this
was afterwards found to be the only course. When they took their
ground they stood alone — their own province of North Carolina
did not join them. They did not ask their fellow subjects to unite
with them in so daring an enterprise without first encountering
the peril themselves. They did not wait for others to take the first
step — they did not stand at ease until the whole were prepared to
advance in line; but thev boldly and fearlessly marched out to the
front, inviting by their example all the rest to follow. These men
were the first to declare that the authority of the King and Parlia-
ment over "their colonies" was annulled and vacated. They were the
first to declare "that the Provincial Congress of each province, un-
der the direction of the great Continental Congress, is invested
with all legislative and executive power, within their respective
provinces, and that no other legislative or executive power does, or
can at this time exist in any of these colonies." They were the first
to incur the responsibility, whatever it might be, of making such a
declaration, and publishing it to the worla.
The Resolutoins were immediately forwarded by an express to the
Continental Congress. I need not ask which of the two Declara-
tions, the "manuscript" or the "printed" would be the most appropri-
ate for such a special communication — that which related to the
separation of a single county from a province, then represented by
three delegates in that body; or that which in substance and in
terms was a full and complete Declaration of Independence of all
the colonies? With one, the Congress had nothing to do, while
North Carolina was firm (and North Carolina was never otherwise
than firm) in her support of the Continental measures. The other
presented for consideration a question which no other body of men
on the continent was competent to decide. What was the result of
*The convention of May 20th declared the independence of "the
citizens of Mecklenburg county." while the Resolves of May 31st
"conceive" the suspension of "the former civil constitution of these
colonies." — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY 43
the mission? The Congress, as will he seen by their Declaration
of the 6th of July,* believed it inexpedient at the time to declare in-
dependence. The people of Mecklenburg acquiesced in this decision,
and fell back into line; their delegates in the next Provincial Con-
gress, held at Hillsboro, in August, 1775, united with the other
members in all their proceedings, and we find subscribed to the
"Test," adopted and signed on the 23d of August, which begins with
these words: "We, the subscribers, professing our allegiance to the
King, and acknowledging the constitutional executive power of gov-
ernment"—the names of Thomas Polk, John McKnitt Alexander,
John Phifer, Waightstill Avery, with one hundred and eighty
others, members of that Congress.
It has been suggested that there were two sets of Resolves adopted
—two separate and distinct Declarations made on two different
days — one by a convention, another by a committee of Mecklenburg
county, and that the manuscript copy is the record of the proceed-
ings of one of these meetings, the printed copy of the other meet-
ing. But this is a mere assumption not supported by a particle of
evidence. The writer of the manuscript mentions but one. None of
the survivors in 1830 of those who were inhabitants of Mecklen-
burg county in May, 1775, and present when the resolutions were
adopted, speak of two Declarations.** But one messenger was sent
by the Committee to the Continental Congress with "The Declara-
tion." Gov. Martin alluded to one only, which had then been
printed, and we find one printed six weeks before the date of his
Proclamation corresponding so exactly with his description of it as
to leave no room for doubt that it is the identical paper he de-
nounces as "the Resolves of a set of people styling themselves a
committee for the county of Mecklenburg, declaring the entire disso-
lution of the Laws, Government and Constitution of this country,
and setting up a system of Rule and Regulation," etc.
In answering your letter, my dear sir, I have endeavoured to be
as brief as possible to notice such points only as were necessary,
and to avoid everything that had not a direct bearing upon your
questions; yet I am conscious that I have extended mine to an un-
reasonable length. But upon looking it over, I see nothing that
*6th of July, 1775— D. A. T.
**They were called upon to certify specifically that the Declara-
tion was made and they did so. There was only one Declaration, and
there was no occasion for remarks about the Resolves of May 31.
Meetings were held at intervals during the entire year, but were not
mentioned in a discussion wholly concerned with the Convention
of May 20.— D. A. T.
44 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
strikes me as proper to be omitted, so I send it all, trusting to your
patience and good nature to find a suitable excuse for me. If I
have succeeded in establishing a single truth, or in removing a sin-
gle doubt — if I have cleared away one of the many clouds of error,
that for twenty years have thrown so much darkness around this
brilliant star in our history, I shall be entirely satisfied. For the
convenience, I add copies of the two papers marked A and B, I have
referred to so often.
Very respectfully, etc.,
[Signed.] l'i n B FOBGE.
John Vaughn, Esq., Philadelphia.
GOV. SWAIN'S LETTERS.
David Lowry Swain, son of George Swain, was born
near Asheville,. Buncombe county. North Carolina, January
4, 1801. He was educated in Asheville, attended the State
University for a short while, studied law under the direction
of Judge John L. Taylor in Raleigh, served as member of
the General Assembly, Solicitor of the Edenton district,
member of the State Board of Internal Improvements,
trustee of the University, Judge of the Superior Court, and
was elected Governor in 1832, being then only thirty-one
years of age. He was elected president of the University in
1835, and served in that capacity until his death. August
2j, 1868. He organized the historical society of the Uni-
versity in 1844, and in 1855. he was appointed State Histori-
cal Agent. In this position he did work of great and lasting
value in securing and preserving documents of importance.
His generosity in assisting Bancroft, Lossing, Hawks,
Wheeler, Randall and other historians without reward in
any form, attests the sterling character of the man.
Governor Swain probably devoted more time to the study
of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the
involved questions than did any other man. He exa nined
carefully all the available testimony in a spirit in which even
his unswerving patriotism and love for his native State
could not influence him in his search for truth. Of the
authority of the Declaration, he had no doubts, but he
could not satisfy himself as to the details. It matters not to
COAT OF ARMS OF THE PHIFER FAMILY, 1760.
ill.C TiL.t.iZ
lj^-'$ Proclamation Mow,
^ ■- & rfOC13fM2tion imww, 'Cfgy$f>£ lo^tm* K? S
;0W Assembly, pj&J i isfjjwd ot" /fpnl,^^
17C1. > I it J/'* 6.14 i
Pfel*
7&C&&T,
I7i\ J?$,,| i
H
PROCLAMATION MONEY.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY 45
us to-day whether the Declaration was made May 20 or
May 31, but to Governor Swain, it was a matter of import-
ance to accurately and positively determine every item of
historical importance. No one has ever disputed the account
of the resolves of May 31, which were published at the time,
and when the discussion arose, the forthcoming evidence
proved the facts of the convention of May 20. Then some
writers undertook to reconcile the two or prove there was
but one. but there were the two sets of resolutions and all
finally came to the same conclusion as did Governor Swain,
as is shown in the following correspondence.
(Gov. Sicain to Hon. Benson J. Lossing.)*
Chapel Hill, Dec. 20, 1851.
My Dear Sir: — Your letter of the 14th was received this morning.
In reply to your enquiries about the Mecklenburg Declaration, I find
myself constrained to say several things which might be much
more satisfactorily communicated if I had you before me in the
midst of the books and documents to which I must necessarily refer.
The preface to the State Pamphlet, of which you speak, was writ-
ten by me for Gov. Stokes. The report of the committee (p. 9) was
drawn by Mr. Badger, of the United States Senate, the brother-in-
law of Gen. J. G. Polk, Chairman, and the son-in-law of Colonel
Wm. Polk. The latter was the only surviving field officer of the
North Carolina line, a shrewd observer, and of unquestioned truth-
fulness, and it was he who first called attention to the subject by
the publication which produced the correspondence between Adams
and Jefferson.
Neither Gov. Martin's Proclamation, nor the five Resolutions in
the American Archives (Vol. XL, p. 855), had then been disin-
terred by Col. Force, and it is not very surprising that in the then
state of facts I should have yielded to the force of my own argu-
ment. (Gov. Stoke's preface.)
The entire series of Resolutions adopted 31st of May (2d Wheeler,
p. 255), was first discovered in the Charleston Library by Dr. Joseph
Johnson, after repeated searches made at my instance, was copied
*Benson John Lossing, born in New York, February 12, 1813, au-
thor of the Pictoral Field Book of the Revolution, Life of Wash-
ington, and other books. Died near Dover Plains, New Jersey, June
3, 1891.— D. A. T.
46 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
and communicated to me, and by me sent to Mr. Bancroft, at Lon-
don. He had found it there before my letter reached him, but not
until after Dr. Johnson had sent it to me.
All the original papers which were copied in the State Pamphlet
are now in my possession. I have examined Dr. Smyth's pamphlet,
Mr. Tucker's life of Jefferson, and probably all that has been writ-
ten, and worth reading upon the subject. There may have been a
meeting of the Committee on the 20th, and resolutions may have
been adopted; but there is no evidence satisfactory to my mind if
it be so, that the papers purporting to be Mecklenburg Declaration
are true copies of the original record. If they be, where were they
made and by whom?
The Davie paper, as we call it, (State Pamphlet, pp. 14, 15, 16),
shown to be in the handwriting of John McKnitt Alexander, in
whose house the original was burned in April, 1800, was written in
September, 1800, about five months after the destruction of the
record. It was not taken from the record, it is not shown to be the
copy of a copy, or that there was a copy extant in September, 1800.*
In form it appears to be a narrative of past events, not a record of
present proceedings. Compare it with the copy in second Martin's
History of North Carolina, page 574, and the discrepancies are
numerous and remarkable. The former consists of five, the latter of
six resolutions. The former speaks in tne past, the latter in the
present time ;and in fine the latter is not merely an enlarged, but an
improved edition.* I wrote to Judge Martin in 1842, requesting
to be informed when and by whom his copy was furnished, but I
did not succeed in extracting a reply.**
Without entering farther into the enquiry than to call attention to
the two facts which follow, I feel free to say that I regard the paper
of the 31st as the better, supposing both to be genuine.
1. You will perceive from the editorial copied from the Raleigh
Register (p. 23), that previous to February, 1820, Col. Polk, who was
present at the meeting held, "thought there were errors as to the
♦The ''Davie paper" was written from memory by John McKnitt
Alexander, and the fact that its variance from the genuine (Mar-
tin's) copy is no greater, is evidence that John McKnitt Alexander
was thoroughly acquainted with the original document. See his
certificate.— D. A. T.
**Martin testified to Dr. Hawks that he secured the copy before
1800 from some one (not an Alexander) in Western North Caro-
lina, but that at that late date, he did not remember the name of the
person. — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY 47
names of the secretary, etc." There was but one clerk on the 31st,
Eph. Brevard. Is it probable that a committee organized under the
articles of the American Association would have had two clerks at
any time?*
2. How is it to be accounted for that the Resolutions of the 31st
make no reference to the proceedings of the 20th, if the former were
not merely more important than but the foundation of the latter?
Dr. Brevard died in a short time, and was no doubt succeeded in
his office as clerk of the committee by J. McK. Alexander. Mr. Alex-
ander's house was burned in April, 1800, and with it, as was sup-
posed, the only written memorial of a most interesting and import-
ant historical event. The narrative sent to Gen. Davie was proba-
bly the most accurate account of the great transaction which his
memory enabled him to furnish. Be this as it may, the evidence
that the paper published in the Cape Fear Mercury and denounced
by Gov. Martin; that transmitted by Gov. Wright to Lord Dart-
mouth, and the official dispatch forwarded by Capt. Jack to the Con-
tinental Congress are identical with the copy discovered in Charles-
ton, is exceeding strong, if not conclusive.
The evidence of Gen. Graham on the point to which you refer,
goes very far towards identifying the Resolutions of the 31st as
those discussed in his hearing. The statement of John Simeson
(p. 25), which seems not to have attracted your attention, appears
to me to strip the enquiry almost of reasonable doubt. At the dis-
tance of fifty years the memory of no man can be relied upon as to
dates and precise form of expression, while there are substantial
facts so remarkable that no man can forget them.
"As to the names of those who drew up the Declaration, I am in-
clined to think Dr. Brevard was the principal, from his known
talents in composition. * * *
"It was towards the close of May, 1775. In addition to which I
have said the same committee appointed three men to secure all the-
military stores for the county's use. Thomas Polk, Jonn Phifer and
Joseph Kennedy. I was under arms near the head of the line near
Col. Polk, and heard him distinctly read a long string of grievances,
the Declaration and military order above." Apply this statement
of Mr. Simeson to the last of the series of the Resolutions of the
31st of May. "That the Committee appoint Col. Thomas Polk and
Dr. Joseph Kennedy to purchase 300 lbs. of powder, 600 pounds of
lead, 1,000 flints for the use of the county and deposit the same in
such places as the Committee may hereafter direct.
*There was but one Secretary May 20. — D. A. T.
4<s HISTORY OF MECKLENB1 RG COUNTY.
"Signed by order of the Committee, Ephraim Brevard, Clerk of
the Committee."
There is something potential in this closing resolution decidedly
Cromwellian, and in unison with the character of the sturdy Scotch-
Irish Presbyterian from whom it emanated:
"Then put your trust in God, my boys.
And keep your powder dry."
Queen's College was the Faneuil Hall of the South. Are you
familiar with its history? Previous to its establishment there were
but two chartered seminaries of learning in the province — Edenton
and New Bern Academies. None but a member of the Established
Church was eligible to the office of trustee or instructor, and the
latter even appointed by the Governor. The Presbyterians applied
to the Colonial Assembly for an unrestricted charter for a college
in a county named in compliment to the King and Queen, Meck-
lenburg (Strelitz), the native place of the latter, in a town bear-
ing the name of his consort, for an institution to be known by the
titular distinction. The bill passed the Commons, of course; the
Council did not choose to breast the storm of popular indignation,
which a rejection would have excited. Gov. Tryon had not the
firmness to disallow it;" but the triple compliment to royalty
availed little on the other side of the Atlantic, and a year after-
wards, 1771, the charter was "repealed by a royal proclamation."
It continued to exist nevertheless, and the first Legislature under
the State Constitution, in 1777, gave it a charter by the name of
Liberty Hall Academy. In accordance with the instruction of the
people of Mecklenburg, the Constitution of 1776 made the creation
of a University imperative upon the Legislature and declared
that no preference should be given to one religious denomina-
tion over another. So far as Mecklenburg was concerned, the war
of the Revolution was a war waged mainly for religious liberty,
and this was the seminal principle which made it, "the most re-
bellious county in America." The instructions, etc., ( 2d Wheeler,
p. 260) should bear date in September, 1776, instead 1775. I have
the original papers before me. You are probably aware that Foote
and others, regarding it as dated in 1775, rely upon it as giving
collateral support to the Declaration of the 20th.
It is proper that I should apprise you that Dr. Smyth, of Charles-
ton; Gov. Graham and Judge Cameron, and many others, concur
with Dr. Hawks in the opinion that the authenticity of the latter
paper cannot be controverted.
While I have never assumed to speak excathedra upon this sub-
ject, I have never concealed my opinion from my friends. Wheeler
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 49
and Wiley were fully apprised of them, and the former persisted in
maintaining the authenticity of the paper despite of assurances
from me that none of the gentlemen* to whom his book is dedicated
would sustain him. If you publish the sketch of Gov. Caswell,
sent you sometime since, please strike out the words "in conjunction
with Col. Lillington." The statement implying a divided command
was first made by Jones and followed by Wheeler, in entire disre-
gard or ignorance of all the evidence, traditionary and written
on the subject and in the teeth of records of uncontrovertable
verity. The very Assembly, which in April, 1776, gave Caswell a
vote of thanks and promoted him to the office of Brigadier General
of the New Berne District, appointed John Ashe Brigadier General
of the Wilmington District, over the head of Lillington. I sat
down without any intention of writing so long a letter. The day
is very cold and my fingers very numb, and I have written in una-
voidable haste. You will read, however, if you succeeded in deci-
phering it at all, with unavoidable deliberation. You may show it to
Mr. Bancroft if you choose.
Yours very truly,
D. L. Swain.
You must not infer from what I have said that I do not consider
Col. Lillington to have been a meritorious officer. Very far from
it. I mean simply to say, that at Moore's Creek he acted, and was
regarded universally, as a subordinate.
(Governor Swain to Hon. George Bancroft.)**
Chapel Hill, 6th March, 1858.
My Dear Sir:— Your note of the 1st was received yesterday. The
*"To George Bancroft, LL. D., whose writings have marked the
age in which he lives, and the only historian who has done justice
to North Carolina; to Peter Force, of Washington City, whose patient
labors and indefatigable research have proved his early patriotism;
and to David L. Swain, LL. D., whose native worth, whose services
and whose talents are alike her pride and ornament."— Wheeler's
Dedication.
**George Bancroft, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, October 3,
1800, graduated at Harvard in 1817, studied in Europe until 1822,
Secretary of the Navy in Polk's Cabinet, Minister to England from
1846 to 1849, Minister to Germany from 1867 to 1874. First notable
work, "History of the Colonization of the United States," published
in 1834. Greatest work, History of the United States in ten volumes.
Died in Washington, January 17, 1891. — D. A. T.
50 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
copy of my report, to which you refer, is, as you perceive from the
date, a corrected reprint of the one sent you a year ago.* The reply
of Lord Shaftebury, a copy of which you were so kind as to send
me, was not received until after my report to the General Assembly
was published. I wish very much it was in my power to have a
personal conference with you in relation to the Mecklenburg Reso-
lutions, and other events in our Revolutionary history. I have held
very free and full discussion with Dr. Hawks after a minute exami-
nation of all the papers at my command, and we understand each
other better, and are more nearly together in opinion than we were
at the time we appeared before your Historical bociety. I would
like very much to go over the same ground with you. He never
saw the evidence on which I rely as conclusive until his arrival
here in June last, after the delivery of his lecture in Charlotte. At
the close of the examination I gave him a paper copied below,
and expressed the opinion that every fact set forth might be em-
bodied in a special verdict, and established by the evidence before
us, if an issue were made up and submitted to a jury.
"The documentary evidence in my possession satisfies me that
there was a meeting of the Citizens of Mecklenburg, at Charlotte,
on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, and that resolutions in relation
to independence were discussed and adopted. I entertain no doubt
that the record of the proceedings of the Mecklenburg Committee
was burned in the home of John McKnitt Alexander, in the month
of April, 1800, and that the Davie paper contains what Gen. Graham,
Col. Wm. Polk, and other gentlemen of high character, whose cer-
tificates appear in the State Pamphlet, believed to be a true narra-
tive of the transactions of these two days. I have seen no paper
purporting to be a copy of the resolutions, which I suppose to be of
earlier date than September, 1800.
"I entertain the opinion that the resolutions of the 31st May
were the resolutions published in the Cape Fear Mercury, and
referred to in the Proclamation of Governor Martin, and that there
was no contemporaneous publication of the proceedings of the 19
and 20 of May. That a copy of the record of these events was placed
in the hands of Dr. Williamson, with the intent that they should find
a place in history of North Carolina, I believe to be incontro-
vertable."
I send you by the present mail a copy of the University Magazine
for November. The leading article on the battle of Moore's Creek
is worthy of your attention. In addition to the authorities relied
upon by Prof. Hubbard, the article Caswell, in Roger's Biographical
Dictionary, and more especially a note in 2d Williamson, N. C, pp.
♦Refers to his report as State Historical Agent— D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 5 1
277-78, which escaped the research of Prof. H., supply direct and
positive evidence of the accuracy of Prof H.'s conclusions. Wil-
liamson was at the head of the medical staff of our Revolutionary
Army, was not merely contemporary with Caswell, but knew him
familiarly during the most interesting period of his life, and sur-
vived him many years. But for Caswell's resignation he would
have been his colleague in the Convention that formed the Federal
Constitution in 1787.
Yours very truly,
D. L. Swain.
Hon. George Bancroft.
Who was Col. Grey of the Loyal Militia of S. C, whose MS. you
placed in the possession of Prof. Riven, of Columbia? Sabine makes
no mention of him. May I publish the MS.?*
(Governor Swain to Hon. George Bancroft. J
Chapel Hill, 18th March, 1858.
My Deab Sir: — I avail myself of the earliest opportunity to reply
to your note of the 11th, which arrived during my absence of a few
days in attendance upon a meeting of the Green Mountain Associa-
tion at Greensborough.
There is no document which fixes with certainty the date of the
first meeting in Mecklenburg; nor, with the exception of a series
of doggerel verses which have recently come into my possession,
is there any paper containing a direct reference to the subject,
which I suppose to be of earlier date than September, 1800. The
conclusion at which I have arrived is founded upon a chain of facts
and inferences which I could very readily present to your consid-
eration, if we were together with the papers before us, but which I
cannot very readily explain in writing.
The inquiry, indeed, seems to be, at present, of little importance,
since it is concluded (conceded) on all sides that the resolutions
of the 31st May were the resolves published in the Cape Fear Mer-
cury, and transmitted by Gov. Martin to the English Government.
The last paragraph on p. 12 of the State Pamphlet, states that at
the close of the proceedings on 20th May "a select committee was-
appointed to draw a more full and definite statement of griev-
ances." It is not reasonable to suppose that the committee met on
*Col. Robt. Grey commanded a company in the regiment of
South Carolina Loyalists, and his interesting narrative of Whig
and Tory warfare in South Carolina in 1780-81 was published in the
North Carolina University Magazine for November, 1858. — D. A. T.
52 HISTORY ("I- MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the 31st without preconcert and preliminary arrangement, adopted
a series of resolutions and adjourned. There can be no doubt that
independent of the committee there was a numerous meeting of
citizens, called by a summons from Col. Polk. This meeting prob-
ably agreed upon some general principles which the committee was
expected to embody in proper form and present to the Continental
Congress. The Davie Paper is simply the narrative of these events,
according to the recollection of John McKnitt Alexander, drawn up
after the destruction of the original record.
A note on page 5 of the State Pamphlet gives us the assurance
of Gov. Stokes that in 1793 he saw in the hands of Dr. Williamson,
in Fayetteville, a copy of this record, together with a letter from
J. McKnitt Alexander in relation to it. I wrote the note myself
under the direction of Gov. Stokes; and though I know he had an
exceedingly retentive memory, did not at the time attach much
importance to it. I have now before me a letter from Israel
Pickens, whom I knew familiarly from my boyhood until the period
■of his death. He represented my native district in Congress
•during the War of 1812, and was the first Governor of the State of
Alabama. He died in Cuba, after his election to the Senate of the
United States. I know no living man whose testimony is entitled
to higher consideration than that of Gov. Davie, Judge Cameron
and Gov. Pickens. Gov. Picken's letter is addressed to his father-
in-law, Gen. William Lewis, and is dated 23d March, 1823.
"Agreeably to your request, I have made from my best recollection
a. statement of the proceedings of the Mecklenburg Convention of
1775, as related to me many years ago by John McKnitt Alexander,
Esq., formerly and until his death a resident of that county. The
relation of that transaction by that remarkable old man made a
strong impression on my mind, as well as it formed a curious part
of the history of my native county, and because my informant him-
self was a member of the Convention and proverbial for his scru-
pulous accuracy in recollecting and detailing events. The following
is concisely the substance of his narrative:
"Understanding that Davie or Hugh Williamson was about to
write a history of N. Carolina some twelve years ago, I apprised
him of the circumstances of the Convention of Mecklenburg. He
informed me that he had many years previously been informed of it
by Gen. Steele and others, but compared their acts of anticipation of
the American Independence to that whereby Virginia had claimed
the title of the Ancient Dominion on account of having declared in
favor of Charles the Second sometime before the restoration took
place in England, both events being expected long before.
"Whatever credit this small revolution may reflect on its author
for patriotism, or whatever discredit for imprudence, or as a his-
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 53
torical fact, the relation here given is believed to be derived from
a correct source and faithfully detailed.
Yours most obt.,
Israel Pickens.
The poem to which I refer above bears date 18th March, 1777,
extends thro' 260 lines, and is of unquestionable authenticity. It
opens as follows:
"THE MECKLENBURG CENSOR.
"When Mecklenburg's fantastic rabble,
Renowned for censure, scold and gabble,
In Charlotte met in giddy council,
To lay the Constitution's ground sill,
By choosing men both learned and wise,
Who clearly could with half-shut eyes,
See mill-stones through, or spy a plot,
Whether existed such or not;
Who always could at noon define
Whether the sun or moon did shine,
And by philosophy tell whether
It was dark or sunny weather;
And sometimes, when their wits were nice,
Could well distinguish men from mice.
First to withdraw from British trust,
In Congress they, the very first,
They their independence did declare."
I am ashamed to send you this very hasty and almost illegible
communication. I must either do so, however, or loose a "mail,"
and under your induction of haste do not feel at liberty to delay
my reply for trivial causes.
Yours very truly,
D. L. Swain.
Hon. George Bancroft.
(Governor Swain to Hon. H. S. Randall.)**
Chapel Hill, 6th April, 1858.
Dear Sir: — Your letter of the 31st ult. was received by yester-
**Henry S. Randall, born in New York in 1811, graduated at
Union College, and studied law, but never practiced, Secretary of
the State of New York in 1851; member of the General Assembly in
1871; published several volumes of his writings; author of Life of
Thomas Jefferson (1758); died in Cortland, New York, in August,
1876.
54 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COT NT Y.
day's mail. By turning to the 18th page of my Report as Historical
Agent to the General Assembly of North Carolina, a copy of which
I send you, you will find a letter from Dr. Hawks, in which he
assures me that he will put no portion of his forthcoming History to
press without submitting it to my examination. That assurance has
since been repeated orally and in writing, and I am in daily expecta-
tion of his arrival here with the MS. of his second volume** in order
to afford the fairest opportunity for joint personal revision. Under
these circumstances, I do not feel myself at liberty to anticipate or
forestall him by any authorized publication of my views with re-
spect to the Mecklenburg Resolutions.
My letters to Mr. Bancroft were hastily written, and in their pres-
ent shape, are unworthy of incorporation in such a work as yours.
They contain, nevertheless, nothing which I do not believe to be true
and susceptible of proof from evidence in my possession. The facts
and inferences are entirely at your service and may be used at your
discretion, in the composition of your narrative.
You remark that the main question, so far as Mr. Jefferson is
concerned, is this: "Is the Alexander copy of the Mecklenburg
Resolutions genuine?" The paper is unquestionably genuine. I
have it before me, in the well-known hand-writing of John McKnitt
Alexander. But what is it? It is not the record of the Mecklenburg
Committee that perished in the fire which consumed Mr. Alexander's
home in April, 1800; and this paper bears date in the following
September. It is not a transcript, therefore, of the original record,
If it be the copy of a copy, the inquiry presents itself, of that
copy: How authenticated? where, when and by whom taken? Does
it purport to be a copy, or is it simply upon the face of it the
most accurate narrative which Mr. Alexander's memory could
supply of the transactions to which it relates?
Regretting, for the reasons suggested, which I am certain will be
satisfactory, that I cannot, with propriety, enter at present upon the
preparation of such a paper as you desire, I remain,
Very respectfully yours,
D. L. Swain.
H. L. Randall, Esq.
Literature Discussing or Referring to the Mecklenburg Declaration,
in Addition to that Contained in this Book.
Raleigh Minerva, 1809.
North American Review, January. 1821.
**Dr. Hawks' History of North Carolina, in two volumes, pub-
lished in 1859, only covered the period from 1584 to 1729.— D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 55
Nile's Principles and Acts of the Revolution, 1821.
Dr. M. W. Alexander's Address at Hopewell, July 5, 1824.
Catawba Journal (of Charlotte), October 19, 1824.
Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution, 1828.
Martin's History of North Carolina, 1829.
Memoirs of Thomas Jefferson, by Thomas G. Randall, 1829.
Jones' Defense of North Carolina, 1834.
Life of Jefferson, by George Tucker, 1837.
New York Review, March, 1837, containing an article by Dr.
Francis L. Hawks.
Pamphlet, by Prof. George Tucker, replying to Dr. Hawks' article,
Feburary, 1838.
Southern Literary Messenger, April, 1838.
Southern Literary Messenger, August, 1838, containing an article
by Dr. C. L. Hunter, son of Rev. Humphrey Hunter.
National Intelligencer, December 18, 1838.
Nile's Register, May 25, 1839.
Southern Literary Messenger, November, 1839, containing an arti-
cle by Dr. C. L. Hunter.
Southern Literary Messenger, June, 1839.
Force's American Archives, 1839.
History of Virginia, by Charles Campbell, 1847.
Raleigh Register, February 14, 1847.
Southern Presbyterian Review, March, 1848.
Wheeler's History of North Carolina, 1851.
Correspondence between Force, Bancroft and Swain, 1841 to 1858.
Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, 1852.
North Carolina University Magazine, May, 1853.
Nassau Literary Magazine (Princeton, N. J.), September, 1853,
containing an article by Samuel S. Force.
Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century, 1853,
by Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey.
Revolutionary History of North Carolina, 1853; addresses by
Hawks, Swain and Graham.
The Virginia Convention of 1776; an address by Hugh Blair
Grigsby at William and Mary College, July 3, 1853.
National Intelligencer, September, 1856.
Address by Dr. Francis L. Hawks, in Charlotte, May 20, 1857, pub-
lished in the Charlotte Democrat; Carolina Watchman (Salisbury),
May 26; North Carolina Whig (of Charlotte), May 26; Raleigh
Register, May 27.
National Intelligencer, August 13, 1857.
National Intelligencer, November 6, 1857.
Raleigh Sentinel, Charlotte Democrat and Wilmington Journal,
56 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
June 18 to September 6, 1874, containing articles by Daniel R. Good-
loe, Major C. Dowd and Jobn H. Wheeler.
North American Review, April, 1874.
American Historical Record, May, 1874, containing an article by
Benjamin J. Lossing, LL. D.
New York Herald, May 14 and 20, 1875, containing letters from
Gov. Graham and others.
Southern Home (of Charlotte), May 10, 1875.
Address by Hon. Wm. A. Graham, February 4, 1875.
Sketches of Western North Carolina, by Dr. C. Hunter, 1877.
Wheeler's Reminiscences of North Carolina, 1884.
Bancroft's History, 1884.
Foote's Sketches of North Carolina.
Memoirs and Reminiscences of Rev. Humphrey Hunter.
Pitkin's Political and Civil History of the United States.
RECEIPT, 1773.
"r
is. cu**n %~\ ~, ; — f — vxi<*Jbt,»<*
ProchiBsiion Money, Tor y l^t^c-^ C I
I
-/'7r2 Ml.
u« sum of ^2? /> - 3 - «|
A$BUl.Lanc>.is>tsc
— per HunJico, due to His Msjefty tha j? C~
55* ■
RECEIPT SIGNED BY THOS. POLK IN 1773.
CHAPTER II.
MECKLENBURG INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT.
Unveiling in Charlotte in 1898 Attended with. Impressive Ceremo-
nies.— Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson was Orator of the Occasion. —
First Monument Association Incorporated in 1842. — Declaration
Poem by Rev. W. W. Moore, of Virginia.
May 20, 1898, the one hundred and twenty-third anniver-
sary of the Mecklenburg- Declaration of Independence, a
monument to the memory of the signers was unveiled in
Charlotte. The handsome granite shaft, bearing appropri-
ate inscriptions on bronze tablets, stands in front of the
Mecklenburg County Court House, which was built on the
site 01 the building in which was conducted the school
known successively as Queen's College, Queen's Museum
and Liberty Hall Academy.
The State Legislature, in 1842, passed an Act incorpo-
rating the Mecklenburg Monument Association. May 20,
1844, the first effort to raise money for the purpose was!
made, a supper being given in Charlotte in honor of the
Revolutionary soldiers. There was a good attendance and
a considerable sum was contributed. Judge Osborne, who
made the address of the occasion started the subscription
with a twenty-dollar gold piece.
During the Centennial celebration in May, 1775, new in-
terest was awakened in the projected building of the monu-
ment. June 25, 1775, an organization was perfected, with
Z. B. Vance, president; Dr. Joseph Graham and J. H. Wil-
son, vice-presidents, and T. W. Dewey, secretary and treas-
urer. A total of $5,000 was secured but was afterwards
lost in the failure of the bank in which it was deposited.
In 1890, the Monument Association was again formed,
with Mr. F. B. McDowell as president, and under his man-
agement the final and successful effort was made. For some
years there was but little progress, and in the Fall of
1897, the leaders of the movement resolved that the work
58 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
should be culminated by the following anniversary. In a
short time the amount of money on hand justified them in
contracting for the monument and announcing that it would
be unveiled May 20, 1898.
The celebration on the day of the unveiling was one of
the greatest ever witnessed in Charlotte. Speeches were
made by Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson, Mr. F. B. McDowell,
Mr. J. P. Caldwell, Governor Atkinson, of Georgia, and
Col. Julian S. Carr. Rev. J. R. Howerton, D. D, led in
prayer, and the Declaration of Independence was read by
Capt. A. F. Brevard. Mr. McDowell stated that the Char-
lotte Observer had offered a prize for the best poem on the
Mecklenburg Declaration. Col. H. C. Jones then an-
nounced that the winner was Rev. Walter S. Moore, D. D.,
of Hampden Sydney, Va., and he read the poem as follows :
To Piedmont Carolina, where virgin prairie soil
Bespoke abundant harvests to reward the tiller's toil,
From homes beyond the ocean there came in days of old
A band of sturdy heroes, a race of yeomen bold.
On all Catawba's uplands— for there they found their rest.
Those woods and wide savannas fulfilled their longing quest —
They reared their modest dwellings, they built their kirk and school,
For well they knew how danger grew from skeptic and from fool.
Behind the walls of Derry, their father's faith in God
Had filled their souls with courage to defy the tyrant's rod;
'Twere folly then to fancy that sons of sires like these
Would bear a yoke of bondage, or obey unjust decrees.
Their heirloom was a volume which taught the rights of man.
And made the least a king and priest free from despotic ban;
The people are the sovereigns, with rights Inalienate.
The people make the government, the people are the State.
This truth was taught by Craighead, thus Mecklenburg believed,
And when oppressive measures passed, her sons were not deceived;
While others talked of redress as subjects of the crown,
They boldly broke the tyrant's yoke, and flung the gauntlet down.
MECKLENBURG INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT. 59
From seven congregations in which they preached and prayed,
From woodlands and plantations, in homespun garb arrayed,
These yeomen rode to Charlotte, these man of mien sedate,
While high empires shone in their eyes — they came to found a State.
And there these dauntless statesmen, in ringing words and high,
Declared their Independence — "We'll win it or we'll die;
With lives and sacred honor, with fortunes great or small,
We will serve the cause of freedom, we will break the Briton's
thrall."
Next year the Nation followed where Mecklenburg had led,
To all the world, with flag unfurled, her high resolve she read:
"No more shall sons of freemen endure the tyrant's rod,
This land shall be as Freedom, or we forsworn to God."
Through flaming broil of battle where Britain's bravest stood,
On field and flood, by blade and blood, they made their pledges good.
And now, where'er their banner floats over land and sea,
With grateful lays the people praise the men who made us free.
Then up with granite column, inscribed with lofty phrase,
Let Mecklenburg's achievement resound through endless days;
Her sons were first to utter the disenthralling word,
Let men proclaim their deathless name till all the world has heard.
CHAPTER IN.
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS.
Young Men Destroyed Ammunition and Supplies Intended for Use
Against the Regulators. — Gov. Tryon's Proclamation of Pardon
Excepted Them. — Leading Citizens Later Petitioned in Their
Behalf and Secured the Pardon. — Col. Moses Alexander Pre-
sented the Petition.
March, 17. 1 771 , Governor Tryon wrote to Colonel Moses
Alexander, of Mecklenburg this letter :
"As I have come to a resolution by consent of my Council to
March a Body of Troops from the Regiments of Militia of this Gov-
ernment, it will be necessary that several Commissaries should be
appointed for the service, and as you acquitted yourself in that De-
partment very much to my approbation in the late Hillsborough
Expedition, I am induced to make you the offer of being Commissary
to the Mecklenburg, Rowan and Tryon Detachments to supply the
same with Ammunition, Provisions and about fifty camp kettles, at
the same time observing that it would be very agreeable to me
could you make it so to yourself that Captain Polk should be equally
interested and concerned with you in the undertaking. From Col.
Harris you will learn the orders that are to be observed by the
Mecklenburg Detachment which I expect to see greatly animated by
the zealous and spirited conduct of the several officers of the Corps
in so necessary and essential a service."
Colonel Alexander immediately set about to procure the
ammunition and supplies needed, at Charleston, South Car-
olina. While the supplies of powder and camp kettles were
being carried through that part of Mecklenburg, which is
now Cabarrus, James Ashmore, James White, John White,
Jr., William White. Robert Caruthers. Robert Davis, Ben-
jamin Cochran, Joshua Hadley and "William White, son
of the Widow White," all disguised as Indians, went to Cap-
tain John Phifer's "old muster ground, where they found
and stopped the wagons and enquired for the powder that
was being carried to General Waddell ; and in the wagon
belonging to Colonel Alexander, they found the pow-
MONUMENT COMMEMORATING THE McINTYRE SKIRMISH,,
OCTOBER 3, 1780. (See Vol. I., Page 62.)
This monument is seven miles from Charlotte, on the Beatty's
Ford road, and near by is the oldest house in Mecklenburg County,
and in the house are imbedded some of the bullets fired in the skir-
mish. The inscription is: "In Commemoration of the Mclntyre
Skirmish, October 3, 1780. Erected by Mecklenburg Chapter Daught-
ers of the American Revolution, 1901."
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS. 6l
■der and took it out of the wagons, broke open the hogsheads
and kegs that contained the powder and set the same on fire,
and destroyed some blankets, leggins, kettles and other
things, and then dispersed soon after." This is the account
of the transaction as sworn to by James Ashmore, before
Capt. Thomas Polk, June 22, 1771, Ashmore says, in
regard to the incipiency, that he with a number of others,
were together at Andrew Logan's "old plantation in conse-
quence of an advertisement (set up by one James McCaul,
as it was said), when and where he was accosted by one
James White Jr., to know whether he (Ashmore) thought
it any harm to burn the powder," and they forthwith made
and carried out the plan.
When Governor Tryon issued his amnestry proclamation,
June 11, 1 77 1. he excepted those unknown persons who had
blown up the ammunition at Phifer's Hill. Colonel Moses
Alexander and the law officers of this county began dili-
gently to ascertain who< had perpetrated this offense, and
they were soon rewarded with success, Ashmore confessing
and disclosing the names, under oath. When the authori-
ties ascertained who> the offenders were and under what cir-
cumstances the crime had been committed, they relented and
began to take measures to secure their pardon at the hands of
Governor Tryon, and with success. The representation of
the following facts, to the Governor and his Council to
secure the pardon of the offenders, was made by "a number
of the Distressed Inhabitants of Rocky River and Coddle
Creek Settlement," and carried to' Newbern in November,
1 77 1, by Col. Moses Alexander, whose property it was that
had been destroyed.
The representation is as follows :
"That whereas a certain number of young men, ignorant of their
Duty to our Sovereign Lord the King, riotously Assembled in a
wicked manner, Combined against Government, without the least
Knowledge, Advice, or Consent of Any Parent, friend, and some of
them even Demented by Spirituous Liquors, did, about the first of
May last, rashly and inconsiderately Destroy the ammunition of
General Waddell and Sundrys, the Property of Colo. Moses Alexan-
62 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
der; for which wicked deed, their parents and Friends are Drowned
in Sorrows and the Unhappy Perpetrators truly and Deeply Af-
flicted. Permit us, Yr Excellency's most humble petitioners, to as-
sure your Excellency that these Miserable persons were, prior to
this Fact, esteemed faithful and loyal Subjects. We cannot but most
tenderly Compassionate the Desolate and Distressed, and Even take
part of their affliction, and Having learned of your exceeding Hu-
manity and that benign Temper of mind which you are so Eminently
Possessed of, we therefore beg with expectation, Cannot but Solicit
and most earnestly and importunately pray, that your Excellency
would be Graciously pleased to extend to these unhappy, though un-
worthy Subjects, his Majesties most free and gracious Pardon. That
Your Excellency may see Loyalty to the best of Sovereigns and
Fidelity to our noble Constitution, flourishing among us; and the
Reigns of Government easy and Delightfull to yourself, shall be the
Sincere Prayer of your Excellency's most humble and Dutifull Pe-
titioners."
The petition for pardon, which was granted, was signed
by Moses Shelby, Samuel Loftain, Matthew Stewart, John
Morrison, David Slough, Samuel Harris, James Morrison,
Robert McMurray, William White, John Davis, John Rus-
sell, Robert Russell, James Russell, William Scott, Robert
Campbell, William Blair, Thomas Hall, Thomas Smith,
William Adden, George Davys, Robert McCallan, James
Callwall, James Harris, William Sper, John Callwall, Oliver
Wiley, James Harris, David Caldwell.
This petition was presented to the Governor in Newbern
by Colonel Alexander, in November, 1771. The Council
recommended the pardon of the offenders and Governor
Tryon issued the pardon. Some of the "black boys" were
faithful soldiers in the Revolution.
James Ashmore's Testimony.
June 22, 1771. — James Ashmore swears before Thos. Polk as fol-
lows:
"North Carolina, Mecklenburg County,
"The Deposition of James Ashmore, of full age, who being volun-
tarily sworn on the holy Evangelists of Almighty God, voluntarily
deposeth and saith that he, this deponent, with a number of other
persons, was convened at Andrew Logan's old plantation in conse-
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS. 63
quence of an advertisement (set up by one James McCaul as it was
said), when and where this Deponent was accosted by one James
White, Junior, to know whether this Deponent thought it any harm
to burn the powder then carrying through the County aforesaid, to
the army then under the command of General Hugh Waddell, to
which this deponent made answer that according to the Reports
passing of the Governor and his officers, that he did not think the
bare burning of the powder any Harm, and that then this deponent
went Home and the Day following, between the Hours of ten and
eleven o'clock, in the forenoon, this deponent quit work on his plan-
tation and went to look for his Horses. When about three-quarters
of a mile from his House this Deponent was met by six men, dis-
guised, in the Road, who in appearance resembled Indians, but after
some persuasion, consented in part and then went Home with his
Horses, and after returned with Joshua Hadley to a place about half
a mile from this Deponent's House, where were assembled with
himself nine persons, to-wit., James White, Junior, John White,
Junior, William White, Robert Caruthers, Robert Davis, Benjamin
Cochran, Joshua Hadley and William White, son of the Widow
White, who all went thence disguised to Capt. Phifer's old muster
Ground where they found and stopped the waggons and enquired
for the powder that was carrying to Gen. Waddell. When in the
waggon belonging to Col. Alexander they found the powder and
took it out of the waggons, broke open the Hogsheads and kegs that
contained the powder, and set the same on Fire and destroyed some
blankets, leggins, kettles and other things, and then dispersed soon
after, having at this Deponent first joining of them sworn him to
secrecy as they informed who they all before, and further this De-
ponent sayeth not.
James Ashmobe.
Note. — All these papers are verbatim copies from the Colonial
Records.
CHAPTER IV.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Condensed Items of Interest in the Lives of Persons Prominent in
Mecklenburg History. — Brief Biographies Alphabetically Ar-
ranged.
Alexander, Abraham, born in Maryland in 1718, moved
to Mecklenburg and settled near the Catawba River, mem-
ber and chairman of the County Court for many years; in
the Legislature in 1771 ; presided at the Convention of May
20, 1775; died April 23, 1786, leaving a widow and five sons
and one daughter. Was buried at Sugar Creek.
Alexander, Adam, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, was born in Maryland in 1728; moved to
the Clear Creek section of Mecklenburg, prominent magis-
trate of the county ; became a colonel in the Revolution ; died
in 1798. He married Miss Shelby and had four sons —
Evan, Isaac, Adam, Charles — and one daughter who mar-
ried John Springs.
Alexander, Ezra, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, was born in 1720; was a Captain in the
Revolutionary War, and in 1880 fought the Tories in Lin-
coln County. He died in 1790 and is buried in the Sharon
church yard.
Alexander, Hezekiah, signer of the Mecklenburg Declara-
tion of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania January 13,
1722; was a member of the District Committee of Safety
in 1775, of the State Council in 1776; member of Provincial
Constitutional Convention in 1777; lived four miles from
Charlotte; died in 1801. and is buried in the Sugar Creek
church-yard.
Alexander, Isaac, son of Adam Alexander, born in 1756;
entered the army in 1775, and served throughout the war;
married a daughter of David Reece, elected Clerk of the
Court in 1790, and served until his death in 1833.
Alexander, John McKnitt, signer of the Declaration and
1
MRS. RACHEL HOLTON.
First Newspaper Woman in North Carolina; Editor of the Charlotte
Journal in 1861.
THOMAS J. HOLTON, EDITOR OF THE CHARLOTTE JOURNAL,
1829.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 65
secretary of the Convention, was born in Pennsylvania in
1733, and came to North Carolina in 1754. He was elected
to the Provincial Assembly in 1772; was a delegate to the
Assembly at HillsborO' in August 1775, and to the Halifax
Assembly in April, 1776; and was the first member of the
State Senate from Mecklenburg, elected under the Consti
tution, in 1777. He died July 10, 1817, and is buried at
Hopewell. He left two sons — Joseph McKnitt Alexander
and William Baine Alexander. The former was born in
1774, and died October i8> 1841; and the latter was born
May 3, 1798, and died February 27, 1S45.
Alexander, Governor Nathaniel, born in Mecklenburg in
1756; married Margaret Polk Brevard (a daughter of Dr.
Ephraim Brevard and grand-daughter of Thomas Polk) ;
was graduated from Princeton University in 1776; studied
medicine, and entered the army ; member of the General As-
sembly in 1797, 1801 and 1802, elected to Congress in 1802;
elected Governor in 1803, and served two years; died in
Charlotte November 8, 1808.
Ardrey, Dr. William A., son of William and Mary Ar-
drey, who emigrated to this country from Ireland in 1776,
was born in York County, S. C, April 19, 1798; studied
medicine, and located in the lower part of Mecklenburg;
married Mrs. Lydia L. Cureton, daughter of John Potts, by
whom he had seven children. Capt. James P. Was killed in
the Civil War; Capt. W. E., of Providence township; J. W.
of Fort Mill, S. C. ; Dr. J. A., of Pineville; Mrs. Mary J.
Bell, of Providence; Mrs. Margaret R. Potts, and Mrs. S.
H. Elliott.
Alexander, William Julius, born in Salisbury in March,
1797; educated at Poplar Tent, by Rev. Dr. Robinson; was
graduated from the University in 181 6; studied law under
Archibald Henderson, and was admitted to the bar in 1818.
He married Catherine, daughter of Joseph Wilson ; was
elected to the Legislature from Mecklenburg in 1826, and
re-elected until 1830, when he succeeded Joseph Wilson as
Solicitor; was appointed Superintendent of the Charlotte
Mint in 1846.
66 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Avery, Waightstill, signer of the Mecklenburg Declara-
tion of Independence, tenth child of Humphrey Avery, was
burn in Connecticut. May 3, 1743; was graduated from
Princeton in 1766; studied law with Littleton Dennis, of
Maryland, and came to North Carolina and was admitted to
the bar in 1769. He lived with the family of Hezekiah
Alexander; was a member of the Hillsboro Provincial Con-
gress of August, 1775, and of the Halifax Congress in
April, 1776. In the latter Avery, who was a learned
scholar, rendered important service in f< inning the Constitu-
tion and Statutes of the State. He was a member of the
Legislature in 1777, and was elected Attorney General in
1778. He moved to Burke County in 1781 and died there
in 1821.
Balch, Rev. Hezekiah James, signer of the Mecklenburg
Declaration of Independence, was born in Harford County,
Maryland in 1748; was graduated from Princeton in 1766,
in the same class with Waightstill Avery, He studied for
the ministry and was apppointed a missionary to North Car-
olina by the Synods of New York and Philadelphia. He
was the first pastor of Rocky River and Poplar Tent
churches, and served those congregations until his death in
1776, and is buried in the church-yard at the latter place.
Barringer, John Paul, born in Germany in 1721, arrived
in Philadelphia, in 1743; married Ann Eliza Iseman in
Pennsylvania, in 1750; after the death of his first wife, mar-
ried Catherine Blackwelder; Captain of the militia; exerted
great influence in having Cabarrus County created; died in
1807. His brother, George, emigrated to this country and
settled at Gold Hill ; Matthias, another brother, settled in
Lincoln, and was killed by the Indians. Three sisters also
came; Catherine married Christian Overstein; Dolly mar-
ried Nicholas Cook, and Elizabeth married Christian Barn-
hardt.
Barringer. General Paul, son of John Paul and Catherine,
was born in 1778 in what is now Cabarrus County; a prom-
inent and influential citizen: commissioned Brigadier-General
of the North Carolina troops in 1812; member of the Legis-
JAMES W. OSBORNE.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 6?
lature from Cabarrus from 1806 to 181 5, and of the State
Senate in 1828; died at Lincolnton June 20, 1844, and was
buried at Concord. He married Elizabeth, daughter of
Matthew Brandon in 1805, and their children were as fol-
lows; D. M., member of Congress, Minister to Spain;
Paul, of Mississippi; Rev. William, of Greensboro; Gen.
Rufus Barringer, of Charlotte; Major Victor C. Barringer,
First North Carolina Cavalry and Judge of International
Court of Appeals in Egypt, 1874 to 1894; Margaret
married John Boyd, and after his death married Andrew
Grier; Mary, married Charles Harris, M. D.; Elizabeth,
married Edwin Harris; and Catherine married W. G.
Means.
Barringer, General Rufus, born at Poplar Grove, Cabar-
rus County, December 2, 1821; educated at Sugar Creek
and at the State University, from which he was graduated
in 1842; studied law under his brother, D. M. Barringer,
and later under Judge Pearson, was a member of the Legis-
lature from Cabarrus in 1848, and of the Senate in 1849;
was a Bell and Everett elector in i860; commissioned as
Captain of Company F of the First Cavalry Regiment in
May, 1861 ; Major in August, 1863; Lt. Colonel in October,
1863; Brigadier-General in June, 1864; located in Charlotte
after the war; was influential in the establishment of the
graded school and the public library; died February 3, 1895.
He married, first, Eugenia, daughter of Dr. R. H. Morrison,,
and they had two children : Anna, who died young, and Dr.
Paul Brandon Barringer, now of the University of Virginia ;
second, Rosalie Chunn, of Asheville, who had one son,
Rufus ; third, Margaret Long, of Hillsboro, who had one
son, Osmond L. Barringer.
Barry, Richard, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1726; married
Anne Price, of Maryland; moved to- Mecklenburg in 1760,
and settled twelve miles northeast of Charlotte; member of
the County Court ; served in the militia, and was with Gen.
Davidson at Cowan's Ford; died August 21, 1801.
Brevard, Dr. Ephraim, signer of the Mecklenburg Decla-
68 HISTORY ()!• MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
ration of Independence, son of John Brevard, who married
Jane McWhirter, was born in Maryland in 1744, and his
parents moved with their family to North Carolina in 1747;
was graduated from Princeton University in 1768 \ studied
medicine in Maryland, and began practice in Charlotte; was
a tutor in Queen's Museum; married a daughter of Thomas
Polk, by whom he had one daughter ; was captured at the
surrender of Charleston in 1780, while serving as a surgeon ;
was taken sick in prison and was released; returned home,
and lived only a few months, dying in 1781. at the age of
2,7 years.
Caldwell. Dr. 1). T., son of Rev. S. C. Caldwell, and
grandson of John McKnitt Alexander, was horn in 1796;
Educated by his father at Sugar Creek Church and at the
State University; studied medicine under McKenzie and in
Philadelphia; was a leading physician for many years; mar-
ried Harriet, daughter of William Davidson, by whom he
had four children; died December 25, 1861.
Caldwell, Green Washington, born in Gaston County,
near Tuekaseege Ford, April 13. 181 1; was educated by
John Dobson ; studied medicine with Dr. Doherty. near
Beattie's Ford, and practiced for sometime, but finally
abandoned it for the practice of law; elected to the Legisla-
ture from Mecklenburg in 1836 and 1838, and to Congress
in T841 ; appointed Superintendent of the Charlotte Mint
in 1844; declined the nomination of his party for Governor
in 1846; volunteered for the Mexican War and served as a
Captain; was elected to the State Senate in 1849. with ms
brother officers (J. K. Harrison and E. C. Davidson) as
members of the Legislature.
Caldwell. Rev. Samuel Craig, son of Dr. David Caldwell,
of Guilford, and grandson of Rev. Alexander Craighead;
began preaching in 1792. and continued until the year of
his death. 1829; married twice and had eleven children, five
of whom became ministers.
Clark, Jonas, born in Pennsylvania, May 16, 1759. came
with his parents to Mecklenburg in 177T ; entered the army
in 1779. and served in Georgia. South Carolina and North
WILLIAM DAVIDSON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 69
Carolina, and in the battles at Hanging Rock, Eutaw
Springs, Guilford Court House and Cowan's Ford. He
lived in Mecklenburg until 1830, when he removed to Madi-
son County, Tenn., where he died February, 28, 1846.
Cummings, Rev. Francis, D. D., born in Pennsylvania in
1752; moved to Mecklenburg in 1771 ; was in Charlotte
May 20 1775 ; taught school during the Revolution; licensed
to preach, and served congregations in North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia; was a member of the South
Carolina Constitutional Convention in 1788; died February
2, 1832.
Davidson, Adam Brevard, son of Jack Davidson, whose
wife was Sally Brevard, was born March 19,1808, and died
July 4, 1896. He married a daughter of John Springs of
South Carolina. He was a wealthy planter and leading
citizen for many years; moved from his farm to Charlotte
in 1876 and lived there until his death.
Davidson, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania,
December 15, 1735. His father was Robert Davidson. He
was a member of the Colonial Assembly in 1771; was a
Major in the army in 1776, and served under General Ruth-
erford in the campaign against the Cherokee Indians. He
was with General Sumter in 1780 at the battles of Hanging
Rock and Rocky Mount; with Joseph Graham and Alex-
ander Brevard, he established Vesuvius Furnace, Terza
Forge, and other iron works in Lincoln County. He died
January 10, 1832, in his 97th year, at the house of his son-
in-law, William Lee Davidson, who was a son of Gen. Wil-
liam Davidson.
Davidson, William, State Senator from 181 3 to 181 7;
Congressman from 181 8 to 1821 ; State Senator from 1827
to 1829; a prominent and influential citizen for many years.
Davidson, General William Lee, was born in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, in 1746. He was the youngest son
of George Davidson, who moved to North Carolina and set-
tled in Rowan County in 1750. William Lee Davidson was
educated in Charlotte, and when the Revolutionary War
JO HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
began, he was commissioned a Major in the Fourth Regi-
ment, of which Thomas Polk was Colonel. He rapidly
rose to the rank of General and was killed at Cowan's Ford,
on the Catawba, February I, 1781. He was active in the
defense of Mecklenburg against the British invaders. He is
buried at Hopewell, and a monument to his memory has
been erected at Guilford Battle Ground. He married Jane
Brevard, daughter of John Brevard, and sister of Ephraim
Brevard, and left seven children : George, William Lee,
John, Ephraim, Jane, Parmela and Margaret.
Davidson, William Lee, Jr., born in 1777; lived near Da-
vidson College, which was located on his land; moved to
Alabama in 1850; married, but died in 1865, leaving no
children.
Davie, William Richardson, son of Archibald Davie, was
born at Egremont, England, June 20, 1756; was brought
to the Waxhaw settlement (in South Carolina) in 1763;
educated in Charlotte and in Princeton University; entered
the army in 1776; Lieutenant of Cavalry in 1779; Captain
and Major in the same year; participated in the battle of
Stono; Commissary-General in 1781 ; commanded in the
battle at Hanging Rock ; active in the fighting around Char-
lotte; present at the battle at Guilford Court House; began
the practice of law in 1783. married Miss Sarah Jones, of
Northampton, and settled at Halifax ; member of the Fed-
eral Constitutional Convention in 1787; elected Governor in
1798; Special Envoy to France in 1799; moved to near
Landsford, S. C, in 1805 ; died November 18, 1820, and was
buried in the old Waxhaw cemetery.
Downs, Henry, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1728; moved to
the Providence section of Mecklenburg in 1746; died Octo-
ber 8, 1 798. and was buried at Providence.
Dunlap, Dr. David R., grandson of Rev. Alexander
Craighead, whose daughter, Jane, married Mr. Dunlap, of
Anson County, was born in Anson in 1781, moved to Char-
lotte in 1805, and practiced his profession until 1845; was
Clerk of the Court of Equity; died in 1865. He married.
HENRY BARTL3TT WILLIAMS.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 7 1
first Miss Jenkins, of Anson County, by whom he had one
son ; and, second, her sister. This being contrary to Presby-
terian doctrine, he withdrew from the Church and became
one of the pioneer leaders in Methodism in the county.
After the death of his second wife, he married Miss Polly
Lowrie, a daughter of Judge Lowrie, by whom he had one
daughter, who married Dr. Edmund Jones, of Morganton,
and after his death, married Col. T. H. Brem, of Charlotte.
Erwin, John Randolph, son of William L. Erwin, born
in York County, S. C, August I, 1838; moved to Steele
Creek, in Mecklenburg, in 1851; engaged in merchandising
until 1859, when he went to Texas, where he remained until
1 86 1 ; enlisted as a private in a Mecklenburg company and
was soon elected a Lieutenant ; elected Captain of a Cavalry
company in 1862, and served through the war; married Miss
Jennie Grier, daughter of Major Z. A. Grier, of Steele
Creek, in 1867; lived at Steele Creek from 1868 to 1873;
returned to Charlotte; elected chief of police in 1873; Clerk
of the Court from 1875 to 1887; went back to Steele Creek;
Chairman of the County Finance Committee from 1893 to
1895; chairman of County Commissioners (living in Char-
lotte) from 1895 until his death, March 19, 1901. After
the death of his first wife, he married Miss Sallie Grier,
daughter of Col. Wm. M. Grier.
Flennegin, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania March 7, 1744;
moved to Mecklenburg in 1761, and located near McAl-
pin's Creek; member of the County Court for several years;
died in 1815. His brother David was born in 1748; served
in the war; was wounded at Hanging Rock, and died in
1826. Each of the brothers left several children.
Ford, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, was born in Maryland in 1740; moved to
Mecklenburg in 1768; was a magistrate and member of the
County Court ; served the county militia during the war, and
died in 1800.
Gibbon, Dr. Robert, born in Philadelphia in 1823; was
educated at Yale and the Jefferson Medical College ; moved
J2 HISTORY OF M KCKLENBURG COUNTY.
to Charlotte to practice his profession in 1849; served as
a surgeon in the Confederate service throughout the war;
was a brother of the Federal General. John Gibbon, returned
to Charlotte in 1865; married Miss Mary Rodger, of Char-
leston, and had two children — Dr. Robert Gibbon, Jr., of
Charlotte, and Dr. John Gibbon, of Philadelphia. After
the death of his first wife, he married Miss Corrina Harris.
Dr. Gibbon died in 1900.
Graham, George, was born in Pennsylvania in 1758, and
came to Mecklenburg with his widowed mother in 1769.
He was educated in Charlotte, and proved himself a zealous
patriot before the beginning of the war. He was leader of
the attack on the British at Mclntyre's, October 3, 1780;
was for many years Clerk of the Mecklenburg Court, and
several times a member of the Legislature; died March 29,
1826, in his 68th year, and is buried in Charlotte.
Graham, Joseph, born in Pennsylvania in 1759, moved to
the vicinity of Charlotte in 1769; was educated in Charlotte;
present at the Convention of May 20, 1775; enlisted in the
Fourth Regiment in 1778; Adjutant in 1780; opposed Corn-
wallis* entrance into Charlotte, with General Davidson at
Cowan's Ford; died in 1836.
Graham, William, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, was born in 1746; raised a regiment in
Lincoln County in 1776, and inarched against the Scovilites
in South Carolina, and later marched to Charleston. His
command was at the battle of King's Mountain, under Col-
onel Dixon. He died near Hopewell in 181 5.
Grier. Calvin Eli. son of William M. Grier. born in Steele
Creek township December 30, 1845; attended the Military
Institute in Charlotte; enlisted as a private in i86t ; served
through the war and rose to the rank of Captain; studied
law. and located in Charlotte in 1868; moved back to Steele
Creek in 1872. but returned to Charlotte in T876; married
Miss Addie Ramsenr, daughter of General Ramseur. in
1828; died May 1, 1889. and was buried at Steele Creek.
Harris, Charles. M. D. was born in what is now Cabarrus
County in 1762; engaged in the fighting around Charlotte;
W. E. PHIFER.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 73
was educated in Charlotte and at Clio Academy, in Iredell :
studied Medicine in Camden, S. C, and in Philadelphia;
located in Salisbury and later moved to Cabarrus, where he
remained. He died September 21, 1825, leaving two sons:
William Shakespeare Harris and Charles J. Harris.
Harris, James, born in Pennsylvania in 1739; moved to
Mecklenburg in 1750, served in the war and rose to the rank
of Colonel; member of the State Senate in 1785; died Sep-
tember 27, 1797.
Harris, Robert, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1741 ; moved to
Mecklenburg in 1750.
Hill, General D. H., was born in York County, S. C. in
1 82 1 ; was graduated from West Point in 1841, served with
distinction in the Mexican War, rising to the rank of Major,
and receiving a sword as a token of esteem of his native
State; professor in Washington College, Va., from 1849 to
1854; professor in Davidson College from 1854 to 1859;
Superintendent of the North Carolina Military Institute, in
Charlotte, from 1859 to 1861 ; Colonel of the First North
Carolina (Bethel) Regiment in 1861 ; rose to the rank of
Lieutenant-General by gallant service ; returned to Charlotte
in 1865 ; published "The Land We Love," and "The South-
ern Home;" went to Arkansas in 1876 to accept the presi-
dency of the State University ; President of the Georgia Ag-
ricultural College in 1887; returned to Charlotte in poor
health in 1889, and died there a few months later. He was
buried at Davidson College. He married Miss Isabella,
daughter of Dr. R. H. Morrison, who, with several children,
survived him.
Holton, Rachel Regina Jones, born in Richmond May
28, 1813; married Thomas J. Holton, of Charlotte, in 1834;
edited the North Carolina Whig for two years, from the
time of her husband's death, in December of i860.
Holton, Thomas Jefferson, son of Thomas Holton, born
in Richmond, Va., August 25, 1802; located in Salisbury
to work as a printer in 1823; went from there to Fayette-
ville, and moved from Fayetteville to Charlotte in 1828 and
74 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
established the Journal in the same year. The name of the
paper was changed to the Whig in 1852, and Holton con-
tinued as editor until his death, December 27, i860. He
was married to Miss Rachel Regina Jones, of Richmond,
June 24, 1834. They had eleven children: Mrs. Sarah
Deaton, of Charlotte; Mrs. Alary S. Sprinkle, deceased:
Virginia W. Holton, deceased; Harrison Holton, of Char-
leston ; Henry C. Holton, deceased ; Leopold Holton, de-
ceased; Charles S. Holton, of Charlotte; Harriet C. Holton,
of Charlotte; Margaret 0. Holton, deceased; Mrs. J. C.
Crisp.
Hunter, Rev. Humphrey, born May 14, 1755, in north
of Ireland; landed at Charleston with his widowed mother
in 1759, and proceeded at once to Mecklenburg and located
in the Poplar Tent neighborhood ; was present at the Con-
vention, May, 20, 1775; educated by Rev. James Hall;
Lieutenant in General Rutherford's campaign against the
Cherokees; licensed to preach in 1789; preached in York
County, S. C, and at Steele Creek, where he died in 1827.
Hunter, Rev. John, son of Thomas Hunter, born Novem-
ber 13, 1814; educated at Jefferson, Pa.; licensed to preach
in 1843; preached in Mecklenburg except from 1855 to
1858, when he was in Alleghany County; died May 16,
1890; married, first, to Miss Isabella Peoples in 1843; sec-
ond, to Mrs. Martha Bell, in 1861 ; third, to Miss Mary
McDill in 1866.
Hunter. Robert Boston, born in 1818; married Rebecca
Wilson Jones in 1845; cned July 17, 1902.
Hunter, Rev. Wm. May, son of R. B. Hunter, born Feb-
ruary 1, 1850; educated at Due West, S. C. ; licensed in
1874; preached three years in Charlottte. one in Georgia,
ten in Iredell County, ten in Mecklenburg, and then at Lel>-
anon, W. Va.
Hutchinson, William, born in Augusta County, Va.. in
1750: removed to Mecklenburg in 1774, served as Commis-
sarv in Colonel Polk's Regiment in the Snow campaign, in
1775; was a Lieutenant in Rutherford's Brigade in 1778;
Captain in Colonel William Polk's Regiment in 1781 : was a
GENERAL HUGH WADDELL.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 75
good citizen and well known in the county, and died Novem-
ber 23, 1833.
Irwin, Robert, son of William Irwin, signer of the Meck-
lenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Pennsyl-
vania August 26, 1740; moved to Mecklenburg in 1763, and
settled near Steele Creek; married Mary, daughter of Zeb-
ulon Alexander; member of the Provincial Congresses in
1776; participated in the Cherokee campaign of the same
year; General of the State Militia; member of the General
Assembly at intervals from 1778 to 1800; died December
23, 1800, leaving seven children.
Jack, Captain James, born in Pennsylvania in 1739;
moved to Charlotte in 1766; participated in the Snow cam-
paign and Cherokee campaign and the Hornets' Nest;
moved to Georgia in 1783, and settled in Wilkes County,
where he died.
Jackson, Andrew, Sr., born in Carrickfergus, Ireland, in
1720; married Miss Elizabeth Hutchison, emigrated to
America in 1765; landed at Charleston, and settled on
Twelve-Mile Creek, near the present town of Monroe, North
Carolina. He died in February, 1767, and was buried in the
old Waxhaw cemetery, near Landsford, S. C. He was the
father of President Andrew Jackson, and Hugh and Robert
Jackson. The two latter died young.
Jackson, President Andrew. See Chapter XXXIX.,
Volume I.
Johnston, Colonel William, born in Lincoln County,
March 5, 1817; educated at the State University; studied
law under Judge R. M. Pearson; admitted to the bar and
located in Charlotte in 1 842 ; president of the Charlotte and
South Carolina Railroad in 1856; was the chief mover in
the building of the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad,
work on which was interrupted by the war ; an ardent advo-
cate of secession; delegate to the Secession Convention;
•Commissary General of the State in 1861 ; engaged in rail-
road construction after the war; Mayor of Charlotte 1875,
1876, 1877, 1885; married in 1846 to Miss Anna Eliza
•Graham, daughter of Dr. George Graham, and to them
?6 HISTORY OF MECKl.KMil KG COUNTY.
were born Julia M., wife of Col. A. B. Andrews; Frank G. ;
0 ra J., wife of Capt. T. R. Robinson; and W. R. Mrs.
Johnston died in 1881. and Colonel Johnston in 1896.
Kennon, William, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, was chairman of the Rowan Committee
Safety in 1774; resided in Salisbury; was a prominent law-
yer; member of the first Provincial Congress, and was ap-
pointed Commissary to the First Regiment in 1776.
Lowrie, Samuel, son of Robert Lowrie, was born in New-
castle County, Delaware, May 12, 1756, and came with his
family to Rowan County in 1760. He was educated by
Rev. James Hall, at Clio Academy, studied law in Camden.
S. C, and was elected to the Legislature from Mecklenburg
in 1804. He was elected a judge of the Superior Court in
1806, and held the position until his death, December 22,
1818. He was married twice: First, to Margaret,
daughter of Robert Alexander; second, to Mary, daughter
of Robert Norfleet, of Bertie County.
Martin, Samuel, son of Hugh Martin, who emigrated
from Ireland to New Jersey in 172 land brother of Governor
Alexander Martin, of North Carolina, was born in New
Jersey in 1746; came to North Carolina with his brother in
1768. and he settled in Mecklenburg, while his brother
located in Guilford ; elected Clerk of the Court in 1774; dele-
gate to the Provincial Congress in August, 1775; served as
a soldier in the war, being a Captain in the battle at Eutaw
Springs; served as Clerk until his death in 1789. He mar-
ried a widow Caldwell, of South Carolina, and left two
children : Samuel A. and Jane C.
McClure. Matthew, signer of the Mecklenburg Declara-
tion of Independence, was born in Ireland in 1745; came to
Mecklenburg in 1760; settled six miles south of Davidson
College, and died in 1808.
Maxwell, William, born seven miles east of Charlotte,
September 9, 1809, third son of Guy Maxwell, who emi-
grated from Ireland in 1795. He was for many years a
member of the County Court, and was apppointed Clerk in
1862, and he continued in the office for six years; Register
GENERAL JOSEPH GRAHAM.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. JJ
of Deeds from 1868 to 1888, and died October 26, 1890.
His first wife was Mrs. Mary E. Johnston, who died a year
after being married. His second wife was Miss Nancy A.
Morris, by whom he had three children; D. G. Maxwell,
W. C. Maxwell and Miss Carrie Maxwell.
McLeary, Michael, born in 1762; served through the war;
represented Mecklenburg in the General Assembly from
1 81 9 to 1826, and died in 1828.
Morris, Colonel Zebulon, son of William Morris and
grandson of John Ford who was one of the signers of the
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born ten
miles east of Charlotte, April 23, 1789; married Martha,
daughter of John Rae, in 1814, was a prominent planter and
slave owner; died May 1, 1872.
Morrison, Neal, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, son of James Morrison, was born in Phila-
delphia in 1728; moved to Mecklenburg in 1770; Captain in
the Cherokee campaign of 1776; magistrate and member of
the County Court; died in 1784, and was buried at Provi-
dence. His son, William, served in the war, became a
prominent physician; member of the General Assembly in
1796, and died in 1806. Alexander, another son was a
member of the General Assembly in 1801, 1802 and 1803.
His daughter married Thomas Alexander.
Morrison, Washington, State Senator in 1833.
Neal, General Wm. H., born in the south-western part of
the county in 1799; General of the Militia before the war;
County Commissioner; married Miss Hannah Alexander,
by whom he had the following children : S. W. Neal, who
moved to the Indian Territory and died there; Dr. Z. C.
Neal, who practiced medicine in Mecklenburg and died in
1 901 ; Susan Neal, who married Rev. Walter W. Pharr;
Mary Neal, who married Capt. N. H. Peoples ; Nancy Neal,
who married R. W. McDowell ; W. B. Neal ; Louisa Neal,
who married Rev. J. B. Watt, and P. A. Neal, who lives in
Rock Hill. S. C. After the death of his first wife, he mar-
ried Mrs. Martha D. Williamson. He died in 1889.
Oates. Brawley, born in Cleveland County; moved to
78 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Mecklenburg in 1830; Clerk of the Court from 1836 tc
1842, and fnmi 1845 to J854; married Miss Lillie L«>wrie,
daughter of Judge Lowrie, and had three children : Mar-
garet married C. H. Spratt; Alary married Mr. Agnew ; and
Dr. David Oates, who served through the war and then
emigrated to Alabama. He died in 1872.
Osborne, Adlai, was born June 4. 1744; was graduated
from Princeton University in 1768; studied law; Clerk of
the Rowan Court from 1770 to 1809; member of the first
Board of Trustees of the State University; married Mar-
garet Lloyd in 1771; lived in Salisbury, and died in 1815,
leaving a large family.
Osborne, Alexander, born in 1709; settled in Rowan
County in 1755; was a Colonel in the Militia in 1768; mem-
ber of the Rowan Committee of Safety in 1775; married
Agnes, daughter of Rev. Alexander McWhirter; died in
1776, leaving one son, Adlai, and four daughters: Rebecca
married Nathaniel Ewing; Mary married John Xesbit;
Jean married Moses Winslow ; and Margaret married John
Robinson.
Osborne, James W., son of Edwin J. Osborne, was born
in Salisbury December 25, 181 1; was graduated from the
State University in 1830; studied law in Salisbury with
Hon. Wm. A. Graham ; admitted to the bar in Charlotte in
1833; was active in the public improvements, the establish-
ment of the Mint and agitator for railroads; twice elector
for the State at large; Superintendent of the Charlotte Mint
from 1849 to J853; appointed to a vacant judgeship by
Governor Ellis in 1859, and confirmed by the General As-
sembly in November, i860; member of the State Senate in
1868, and member-elect at the time of his death, August II,
1869. He married Mrs. Mary A. Moore, daughter of
John Irwin, of Charlotte, April 5, 1842, and left three sons
and four daughters: R. D. Osborne, a soldier in the Civil
War, died young; Frank Irwin Osborne, lawyer, solicitor
of the Sixth District, and now Judge of the Court of Private
Land Claims, and James W. Osborne, a prominent lawyer
of New York City.
DAVID PARKS.
Ordained Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, in
August, 1833.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 79
Patton, Benjamin, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, born in Ireland in 1838; settled in the Pop-
lar Tent section of Mecklenburg in 1863; was an active
church member and prominent in county affairs ; represented
the county in the First Provincial Congress, held at New-
bern in August, 1774; member of the Salisbury District
Committee of Safety in 1775; collector of taxes for Meck-
lenburg in 1782; died and was buried near Concord in 181 7.
When he went to Newbern in 1774, he was unable to secure
a horse, and walked there and back.
Phifer, Caleb, was born at Cold Water, April 8, 1749; in
the Legislature, representing Mecklenburg, from 1778 to
1792; State Senator from Cabarrus 1793 to 1801; Colonel
in the Revolution; married Barbara Fulenwider; died July
3, 181 1, leaving eight children.
Phifer, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, was born at Cold Water March 22, 1747;
married, in 1768, Catherine, daughter of Paul Barringer;
was a member of the Provincial Assembly at Hillsboro in
August, 1775, and at Halifax in April, 1776, and of the
Constitutional Convention of November, 1776; commis-
sioned Lieutenant-Colonel in Colonel Griffith Rutherford's
Regiment, December 21, 1776; served in the campaign
against the Scovilites and the Cherokee Indians; and died
at "Red Hill" in 1778, leaving two children: Paul, who
married Jane Alexander, and died in 1801, and Margaret,
who married John Simianer, and died in 1806.
Phifer, Martin, born October 18, 1720; was a native of
Switzerland, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1738, and later
to North Carolina. He settled in the Rocky River section
of Mecklenburg, which was made into Cabarrus in 1792.
He was prominent in county affairs before and during the
Revolution; was a member of the Legislature in 1777; mar-
ried Margaret Blackwelder, and died in 1789, leaving three
sons : John, Caleb and Martin.
Phifer, Martin, Jr.. born at Cold Water, March 25, 1756;
married Elizabeth Locke; was Colonel of a Regiment of
80 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Cavalry on duty at Philadelphia; was a large land owner;
died November i_\ 1837, leaving- five children.
Phifer, William Fullenwider, descendant of Martin
Phifer, born in Cabarrus Count} February 15. [809; moved
to Charlotte in 1850 and died there.
Polk, Ezekiel, son of William Polk, brother of Thomas
Polk, and grandfather of President James Knox Polk, b ra
in Pennsylvania December 7, 1747; moved to North Caro-
lina in 1754; Clerk of the Court in Try on County in 1769;
moved to Mecklenburg in 1778; was active in the Revolution
but counseled peace.
Polk, James Knox. See Chapter XXXIX, Volume I.
Polk, Thomas, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, born in Somerset County, Maryland, in 1730.
He was a son of William Polk, who was a son of John Polk,
who emigrated from Ireland in 1685, and great uncle of James
Knox Polk; moved to Mecklenburg in 1754; was prominent
in the events of the county in those times, and founded the
city of Charlotte; was a surveyor, represented Mecklenburg
in the General Assembly in 1770; Colonel of the Militia;
issued the call for the Convention of May 20, 1775; mem-
ber of the Provincial Assembly during the Revolution, Col-
onel of the Fourth Regiment in 1776; Commissary-General
for General Greene's Army in 1781 ; owned mills and stores
after the war ; died in 1773 and is buried in the old cemetery.
He married Susannah Spratt of Charlotte, and had several
children: Ezekiel, Charles, William, James, and Margaret
who married Dr. Ephaim Brevard.
Polk. William, son of Thomas Polk, born July 8. 1757,
educated in Charlotte, was present at the convention of May
20, 1775. served as a lieutenant in Snow Camp campaign in
1775; appointed Major of the Ninth Regiment November
26, 1776, participated in the battles of Brandy wine and Ger-
mantown after having served in South Carolina, spent the
winter at Valley Forge, served with Sumter at Hanging
Rock and as Lieutenant-Colonel in South Carolina in 1781,
was with Davie at the fight at Wahab's, represented Meck-
lenburg in the General Assembly in 1787.' 1790. and 1791,
LIEUTENANT E. C. DAVIDSON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 8l
moved to Raleigh and became president of a bank and died
there January 14, 1834.
Queary, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, was born in Scotland in 1743; migrated first
to Pennsylvania, and to Mecklenburg in 1767, lived and
died near Rocky river and was buried in what is now Union
county.
Reese, David, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, born in Wales in 17 10, came to America in
1725; married Susan Polk, of Pennsylvania, moved to
Mecklenburg in 1750, acted as commissary during the war,
lived near Poplar Tent and died in 1787.
Robinson, Rev. John, born near Sugar Creek in 1768.
educated in Charlotte, preached in Mecklenburg for more
than half a century, and died December 15, 1843.
Robinson, Robert, born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1751 ;
moved to Mecklenburg while very young, served in the army
and in the battles at Hanging Rock, Ramsour's Mill, Char-
lotte and "Mclntyres." Was well known and highly es-
teemed and died August 26, 1839.
Ross, Major E. A. See tribute in Chapter 20, Vol. 2.
Shipp, W. M., was born in Lincoln county November 19,
1819, was graduated from the State University in 1840, ad-
mitted to the bar in 1842 and began practice in Lincoln
county, served as Captain in the Civil War until he was
elected Judge, elected Attorney General of North Carolina
in 1870, practiced law in Charlotte from 1872 to 1881, ap-
pointed judge by Governor Jarvis in 1881 and elected for
a term of eight years in 1882, died in 1890. He was mar-
ried twice— first to Miss Catherine Cameron, second to Miss
Margaret Iredell. He was a son of Bartlett Shipp.
Strong, John Mason, M. D., son of Rev. Charles Strong,
born in Newberry county, S. C, September 1, 181 8; edu-
cated at Jefferson College, Pa., studied medicine with Dr.
John Harris, of Steele Creek, and in Charleston and in Jef-
ferson Medical College, was a surgeon in the Civil War,
lived at Steele Creek and died March 22, 1897. He was
82 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
married first to Miss Rachel Harris, by whom he had live
children, and second to Miss Nancy Grier.
Walker, John, born in 1801 ; member of the General As-
sembly from 1840 to 1848, 1854, 1869, chairman of the
County Court, lived eight miles east of Charlotte and died
September 8, 1876, leaving one son, Rev. James Walker.
Waring, R. P., born in Virginia, moved to Charlotte in
1850 and began the practice of law. began publishing the
Charlotte Democrat in 1852, elected County Attorney in
1855 and 1859, elector in the Buchanan campaign in 1856,
appointed Consul to the Danish West Indies in 1859 and
served there until the beginning of the Civil War, served
throughout the war as Captain, returned after the war and
edited the Times, arrested for treason in 1870 because of his
denunciation of carpet baggers and military outrages and
fined $300; elector in 1876, chairman of the County Court
from 1877 to 1884, member of the General Assembly from
1870 to 1875; assayer in charge of the Charlotte mint from
1885 to 1889, and shortly thereafter retired to private life.
Watson, Samuel Brown, M. D. ; born in York county, S.
C, December 17, 1805; graduated from the Charleston
Medical College in 1828 and located in Charlotte where he
practiced until his death, August 24, 1895.
Williams, Henry Bartlett, born July 1, 181 1, for many
years a leading citizen, died August 12, 1885.
Wilson, Rev. John McKemey, D. D., son of John Wilson
and grand-son of George McKemey, whose wife, Margaret,
was a sister of Andrew Jackson's mother; born six miles
east of Charlotte in 1769, educated at Liberty Hall, in Char-
lotte, and at Hampden Sidney, Va., prepared for the minis-
try by Rev. James Hall, licensed in 1793, served as itiner-
ant missionary and in Burke county until 1801, in Mecklen-
burg from 1801 until his death in 1831 ; married Miss Alary
Erwin, of Burke county, taught a classical school for many
years; died in 1831, leaving several children.
Wilson, Joseph, educated by Rev. David Caldwell, licens-
ed to practice law in 1804, elected to the Legislature from
Stokes county in 1810, elected Solicitor of the Mountain
W. F. DAVIDSON.
BIOGRAPHICAL, SKETCHES. 83
Circuit in 1812, and served in that capacity until his death
in August, 1829.
Wilson, Zaccheus, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1735, moved
to Mecklenburg in 1750, and settled in what is now Cabar-
rus county, member of the Provincial Congress in 1776 and
of the Constitutional Convention of 1788, moved to Tennes-
see in 1796 and died in 1824.
Yates, W. J., born in Fayetteville in 1827, began newspa-
per work in his youth, became proprietor of the Fayette-
ville North Carolinian, moved to Charlotte in 1856 and
bought the Democrat, the Southern Home and Democrat
were consolidated as the Home-Democrat in 1881, was pres-
ident of the directors of the Morganton Asylum, trustee
of the State University, declined all political honors, and
died October 28, i<
CHAPTER V.
ANDREW JACKSON'S BIRTHPLACE.
Born in that Part of Mecklenburg Which was Made Into Union in
1842.— Moved Over Into South C. rolina When a Few Weeks Old.
—Evidence of Those Who Were Present at His Birth.— Col. E. H.
Walkup's Publication.
Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States,
was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, March
15, 1767. The ruins of the McKemey cabin, in which he
was born, are on the land belonging to Mr. J. L. Rodman, of
Waxhaw, and are in Union County, which was cut off from
Mecklenburg in 1842. The site is six miles south from Wax-
haw, near the Charlotte and Lancaster road, and four hun-
dred and eighty yards from the South Carolina line.
In 1858, Colonel S. H. Walkup, of Union County, under-
took the task of gathering testimony as to the time and place
of Jackson's birth. He spent a great deal of time in the
work, and accumulated conclusive evidence that Jackson
was born in George McKemey's cabin, in the "Waxhaws,"
March 15. 1767. The affidavits were published in the North
Carolina Argus, of Wadesboro, September 23, 1858, and
were later printed in pamphlet form, and in Parton's Biogra-
phy of Jackson. The Charlotte and Lancaster papers of
1858 engaged in a controversy over the questions involved,
but all finally acquiesced in the completeness of Colonel
Walkup's presentation of the facts.
Fourteen affidavits were secured. They were made by
persons, in several instances unknown to each other, yet they
corroborate with uniformity every important detail. The
substance of them is as follows: Six sisters — Misses
Hutchison — married and emigrated with their husbands to
this country, and settled in the "Waxhaws." Margaret
married George McKemey, and settled on Waxhaw Creek,
in North Carolina: Jane married James Crawford and settled
-on Waxhaw Creek in South Carolina ; Elizabeth married
VICINITY OF JACKSON'S BIRTHPIACE.
1. — Where Andrew Jackson, Sr., Died.
2. — Where President Jackson was Born.
3. — Where President Jackson was Raised.
4. — Where Andrew Jackson, Sr., was Buried.
Andrew jackson's birthplace. 85
Andrew Jackson, Sr., and located near the present site of
Pleasant Grove camp-ground, in North Carolina; Sarah
married Samuel Leslie and settled near George McKemey's;
Grace married James Crow and settled near Landsford, S.
C. Andrew Jackson, Sr., built his cabin about nine miles
from South Carolina, and the site of it is known to this day.
There, in February, 1767, he died, leaving a widow and two
sons — Hugh and Robert. His body was interred in the old
Waxhaw cemetery, near Landsford. Mrs. Jackson, soon af-
ter the death of her husband, started to the home 01 her sister,
in South Carolina. On the way she stopped to visit Mrs.
George McKemey, another sister, and in her home, in the
night of March 15, 1767, Andrew Jackson was born. So
soon as Mrs. Jackson recovered sufficient strength, she went,
with her three boys, to the home of James Crawford, in
South Carolina, and there Andrew lived for thirteen years.
The Crawford place was two and one-half miles from the
McKemey place.
In the affidavits, Benjamin Massey, John Carnes, John
Lathan, James Faulkner and Thomas Faulkner (the three
latter being second cousins of Jackson), all declare that Mrs.
Sarah Leslie and Mrs. Sarah Lathan (aunt and cousin of
Jackson, respectively) often asserted that Jackson was born
at George McKemey's and that they were present at his
birth; that Mrs. Leslie "was sent for on the night of his
birth, and she took her daughter, Mrs. Lathan, and recol-
lected well of walking the near way through the fields in the
night time." In addition is the testimony of Mrs. Elizabeth
McWhirter and her son George, and Mrs. Mary Cousar, who
state that they were "near neighbors and present on the
night of the birth of General Jackson, at the house of George
McKemey, in North Carolina," March 15, 1767, which tes-
timony rests upon the statements of Samuel McWhirter,
grandson of Mrs. Elizabeth McWhirter, and Thomas Cure-
ton and Jeremiah Cureton, who heard the old persons speak
often and positively of the facts.
For many years it was not known in which state the Mc-
Kemey cabin was located, but the records of land titles in
86 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the Mecklenburg County court house established the fact
that the site of the cabin has always been in North Carolina,
In a deed given by McKemey to Crawford in 1792, it is de-
scribed as being "north of Waxhaw Creek." The McKemey
tract of land was surveyed in 1757, for John McKemey, and
was patented in 1761, was sold by John McKemey to Repen-
tance Townsend in 1761, and by Townsend to George Mc-
Kemey in 1766. McKemey sold it to Thomas Crawford
(son of James Crawford) in 1792; Crawford to Jeremiah
Cureton in 1796; from him, it passed to his son, William J.
Cureton, from whose estate it was purchased by Mr. J. L.
Rodman, the present owner. The records of the transac-
tions, prior to 1842 are in the Mecklenburg County court
house; after that year in Union County.
Thus we have the sworn testimony of fourteen persons,
whose irreproachable character will be vouched for by per-
sons now living, many of them unknown to each other and
all agreeing in reporting the settled family traditions, that
Andrew Jackson was born in the McKemey cabin, March
15, 1767; and the incontrovertible testimony of the county
records, that the McKemey place is and always has been in
North Carolina.
Authority and References: — Governor Swain's Tucker Hall Ad-
dress; Parton's Biography of Jackson; Appleton's Encyclopedia;
The North Carolina Argus of September 23, 1858; Register's Book
XIV, page 202, and Book XI, page 38. The name "McKemey" was
spelled in various ways; the spelling here adopted is that on his
tombstone and is the version accepted by Farton. George McKemey
could not write, and consequently his name was spelled variously in
his depositions.
OLD WILSON PLACE.
Where Andrew Jackson Lived for a Short Time in 1780, With the
Family of John Wilson who Married Margaret McKemey, a
Cousin of Jackson, and was the Father of Rev. John McKemey
Wilson. This House is Six Miles East of Charlotte.
ALEXANDER ROCK HOUSE, ONE OF THE OLDEST BUILDING3-
IN THE COUNTY, FIVE MILES EAST OF CHARLOTTE.
CHAPTER VI. .
CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.
Amusements of the Settlers of Mecklenburg. — County Muster and
Assemblies. — Horse Racing and Betting. — Liquor Used Freely
at Home and at Public Places. — The Old Taverns and Their
Uses.
The amusements of the first people who lived in this
county differed in many respects from those of the present
generation. The women and the children were, perhaps,
the most destitute part of the population in this respect, The
men, at least the great majority of them, would attend the
neighborhood musters of their companies and the county
musters of their regiment, which assemblies were, during
the first years of our history, composed almost wholly of
men. In later years, the women and children sometimes
attended these assemblies, but the custom developed at a
comparatively late date.
The muster of the early days was nominally a military
assembly, but it also had its social and political aspects. The
small number of churches, as well as the infrequent meet-
ings for worship, tended to make the muster days almost
the only days the greater part of the population had for
social intercourse and the discussion of political questions.
During the first years of our history, such questions as the
McCulloh land question, the boundary dispute, the vestry
and marriage acts, the regulation, and other questions of
Colonial politics, were discussed at these meetings.. Besides
affording the people a means of social and political discus-
sion, from the nature of existing conditions, the musters
served to supply the absence of the newspaper, there being
no local newspaper in this county for the first fifty years of
its history.
County courts and the annual election for members of the
Provincial Assembly, all held at the county seat, also served
to bring the leading men of the county together for the ex-
88 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
change of ideas and for purposes of social intercourse. The '
several musters, county courts and elections, together with
the occasional meetings held in all parts of the county for
public worship, afforded our ancestors opportunities for
knowing each other which many of this day do not enjoy.
Add to all these, too, the frequent visits of many of the
people to Charleston, Philadelphia, and other markets, and
the bringing back to this section of the best newspapers and
other publications of that day, and we find that the people
who lived here more than a hundred years ago are not to be
pitied so very much on the plea that they were isolated from
the rest of the world. Even the older boys occasionally went
to Charleston, which was an event long to be remembered.
Some of them, too, attended the meetings, while all the chil-
dren generally received some months of "schooling" for two
or three years of their early youth. But the early times
were such that nature and necessity were the school masters
that were ever present in this section, to develop the latent
powers in every boy and girl.
The diversions of the men partook somewhat of the rude
nature of their surroundings. Horse-racing, long bullets,
shooting matches, and like sports engaged the attention of
the majority. "Long bullets" was a game played with a
large iron ball. There were two goals. The work of those
near one goal was to prevent the ball rolled in their direction
from passing their goal, the winning side being that one
which could succeed in rolling the ball with enough force to
pass the adversary's line. One of the first ordinances of
Charlotte prohibited this game from being played in the
streets of the town.
But one of the old customs which has long since passed
away here, but which still exists in parts of Scotland, was
the custom of having "liquor at the funeral." The life of
this custom was prolonged in this section by the fact that
the people were settled far apart, and an excuse for refresh-
ments at the graveyard, after the funeral, could be made on
the ground that the friends had gathered from long dis-
tances and should be sent away only after having been re-
\ -s •- X
* 3 'J %
EXTRACTS FROM COPY BOOKS IN USE IN MECKLENBURG
COUNTY SCHOOLS IN 1850.
CUSTOMS OE THE PIONEERS. 89
freshed. The prevalence of this custom of having "liquor
at the funeral" may be inferred when it is stated that almost
every estate settled in this country up to, and for sometime
after, 1800, contained an item for funeral whiskey, paid out
of the assets of the estate in the same way as other funeral
expenses are now paid.
"Liquor at the funeral" was not necessarily the liquor
drank by those who kept watch over the dead body before it
was buried, but the spirits consumed at a dinner which was
spread at the church or graveyard after the funeral ceremo-
nies were over, consisting of cakes, bread, cheese, wine, whis-
key or rum. The amount of whiskey consumed varied ac-
cording to circumstances. As early as 1767, seven gallons
and more were consumed on one funeral occasion, costing five
shillings per gallon. Wine was more expensive, costing
ten shillings per gallon. Sometimes rum instead of whis-
key and wine was used, indicating that the dead man was
in his lifetime in more comfortable circumstances than one
whose funeral dinner was set with only corn whiskey as a
beverage.
Another occasion for the consumption of whiskey was
the "vendue," or sale of a dead man's estate. "Whiskey for
the vendue" was as necessary a part of the expenses of an
administrator in settling an estate as was the funeral whis-
key. Here, again, the amount consumed depended on cir-
cumstances. If the amount of property sold was large, the
whiskey bill was large accordingly. If little property was
sold, only a small crowd being attracted hither, then the bill
for spirits was small in proportion.
While horse-racing and long bullets seem to have been
indulged in by only a part of the population, whiskey drink-
ing was a general custom before 1800. Rev. Alexander
had his punch bowl and glasses among the effects sold at his
sale. Nearly every teacher, of which any record now re-
mains, was sometime or other charged with whiskey by some
one of those who patronized his school. But whiskey drink-
ing and intemperance were not then synonymous terms to
the extent they are now.
90 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Betting at horse races was the custom. And while bet-
ting and gambling were permitted, there is evidence that
profanity was criminal, being frequently punished by the
county courts. The meagreness of the court records before
1 774 prevents a statement as to the punishment accorded such
offenses before that time, but after that time there are num-
bers of instances where men were fined various amounts for
"swearing profanely." An interesting feature of such
records is that they always state the number of oaths
the culprit was charged with "swearing profanely," the
gravity of the offense seeming to be measured by the
number.
The making and sale of spirituous liquors was, of course,
as general as their consumption. They who hired whiskey
made in the early days paid the distiller six pence per gallon.
Nearly every leading man in the county owned a distillery.
Such an institution was almost as much a part of the equip-
ment of a plantation as the plows and other farming imple-
ments. There seems never to have been, in the early days,
an excise duty on the sale of whiskey at the place of it's
manufacture, but there was such a duty on all those who
kept taverns, ordinaries, and places of amusement.
But there was a reason for the existence of a distillery on
almost every farm during the first period of our history,
which, leaving out of all consideration other reasons, fully
accounts for the phenomenon, viz : the distance people were
situated from markets for their simple products of corn, rye
and fruit. It was much more convenient to market the sur-
plus products in liquid form than in bulk, and the returns
were larger and surer.
No picture of the social life of the first period of our his-
tory would be complete without some reference to the tav-
erns which were kept in all parts of the country from the ear-
liest days of its history. These institutions sprang up along
all the public roads, and in the town of Charlotte after 1768.
The number of persons always passing through this section
to the South must have been considerable, even as early as
1760. The tavern was a place where such travelers could
M
BILL FOR TEACHING, 1822.
NOTE GIVEN IN 1767.
CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS. 91
be provided for over night. "A public house," or a tavern,
also meant a place where spirituous liquors were sold. If
we are to judge by the bills these tavern-keepers rendered
their customers, we shall gain an adequate idea of the kind
of entertainment furnished, as well as the cost of it. In all
of these houses the punch bowl was an ever present institu-
tion. Such drinks as "Stued wine," "toddy," rum "slings,"
and the like, were served. In compounding these drinks the
tavern-keepers used whiskey of local manufacture, as well
as West India rum, Continental rum, claret, Madeira and
Teneriffe wine, domestic and imported beer, and domestic
and imported cider..
CHAPTER VII.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MONEY. (1762 to 1800.)
First Settlers Used Pennsylvania and Virginia Currency. — Paper
Money Discounted Nearly One-third. — Many Kinds of Coins
Used. — Federal Currency Established in 1792.
The first settlers of this county came from Virginia and
Pennsylvania and, of course, brought the currency of those
States with them, which was, no doubt, the first paper money
in circulation in this section. But some of these settlers
brought gold and silver as well as the paper currency. The
" hard money" of that day, as it was called, consisted of
English and Spanish and German coins, and in rare in-
stances coins of French mintage. In 1763, George Cathey,
who first lived in Pennsylvania and then in Maryland and
afterwards came to North Carolina, loaned Jean Cathey
"ten silver dollars," valued at four pounds English money,
and "one Dubloone in gold," valued at six pounds of the
same currency. At Henry Eisenhart's sale, in 1764, one
"half Johannes" was valued at two pounds and seven shill-
ings, as money was then reckoned in this province.
After the settlers found their way to the markets of Char-
leston, South Carolina, currency became somewhat common
in this section, especially about the year 1770. But even
with the progress of the trade with Charleston, the volume
of money was not sufficient for the needs of the growing
popuplation. Chief Justice Hasell, who held Salisbury court
in the Spring of 1766, said that there was "scarce any specie
circulating among the people of this section, not enough to
pay the stamp duties, should that odious act be enforced."
The value of the North Carolina proclamation, or paper
currency, varied in value at different times prior to 1776.
In 1767, it was valued at two-thirds its face value in sterling.
It seems that this money never decreased much below thirty-
three and one-third per cent, during the period that this
Pursuant to the last will of IWrs. O.
Blinking, <lt-« •<!.. I »ill oiler lor sale, on the 30th and Slsfdajaof
October next, at the Inle dwelling house of said dee'd.
Horses, Jffules,
A large stock of Cattle,
Hogs and Sheep,
A quantity of CORN,
Wheat, fiats, FotttUr *£ Hay,
One Cotton Grin A. (wearing*,
One Dutch Fan,
One (wig* »nd Harness,
1 Road Wagon and Farming* Tools
of every description,
Household Furniture,
Cetlshtiiuf of srreritt rxrrllrnt Bffb mill T'm iiilmi , Siilthuuril, Sirii-
tm ii. Cupboard and '1'nhlis.
'together with n number of other valuable arlieles not eimmeruteil.
A credit will be given, and further pin-in ulnr- mudc known on the
day of nulc hj
Samuel Cox,
September 12, IS3H. Executor.
Bl. . 1. 1 M V
SALE NOTICE, 1838.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MONEY. 93
county was under the royal authority, except in 1773, when
it decreased almost fifty per cent. The inadequate currency
was a matter of 'much concern to our local politicians before
1776, and they often introduced bills in the Colonial Assem-
bly to make taxes payable in certain commodities, thereby
hoping to lighten the burdens of the poorer class and render
the collection of taxes more easy. But no such bill ever be-
came a law of the Province.
Before January, 1772, James Wylie, who had been sheriff
of this county died. The inventory of his estate showed
that he had in his possession fifty-six "half Joes" Johan-
neses), each valued at sixty-four shillings in currency; eight
guineas, each valued at thirty-six shillings; six "pistoles,"
valued at twenty-eight shillings; two "chickeens," valued
at fourteen shillings; one "Maidon," valued at forty-
six shillings; and four "Doubloon ," each valued at
one hundred and twelve shillings. The total value of this
"hard money" was £266 16s., "Total of gold as the same
passes here January, 1772." The administrator of the
estate of Solomon Elliott, in 1775, returned cash on hand as
follows: Forty-nine half Johanneses, seven and one-half
guineas, three pistoles, one "maidon," one "Caroline,' one
hundred and three dollars, or £38 12s, 6d., and £206 ns.
Pennsylvania currency, or £698 16s. 9d. North Carolina
Currency. Elliott was a merchant who lived somewhere
within the bounds of New Providence congregation.
With the change of the government from King to people,
1777, the old proclamation money was made legal tender for
a definite period, and hence that currency remained here and
many people paid debts with it until as late as 1780. All
through the years 1775 and 1776, notes were drawn
payable in that money. By the inventory of Samuel Gin-
gles returned to the county court in January, 1777, it appears
that this man left in cash £25 South Carolina currency, £40
Continental currency, £82 North Carolina currency, one
"Doubloone," and five Spanish milled dollars. In July,
1781, Robert McDowell's personal estate was valued at £179
19s. in hard money and 171 5 paper dollars." When this
94 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
estate was finally settled in 1790, it took eight hundred
dollars to make one of "hard money," which indicates how
worthless our National and State paper currrency had be-
come.
During the period from 1780 to 1783, the money lenders
in this county most always drew their notes payable in "hard
money" or in "gold or silver." In 1783, several payments
were confessed before John McKnitt Alexander, in which
"half Johannes were to Rente at three pound five shillings;
dollars at eight shillings." Beginning in 1782, and contin-
uing until 1793, it was the usual custom to reckon twelve
and one-half cents as a shilling, eight shillings to the dollar.
So when pounds are spoken of during that period, it must be
remembered that one pound was two dollars, and not the old
sterling value of something like five dollars.
But English money did not cease to be a part of cur cur-
rency with the close of the Revolution. Many of the people
of this section still used the money of the mother country
long after that conflict had ended. In 1785, John Mc-
Cutcheon gave his note for sixty-one pounds "sterling,"
guineas to be reckoned at twenty-one shillings and nine
pence, dollars at four shillings eight pence, the whole to be
paid in "hard money." In the same year McCutcheon, who
was a merchant, gave another note payable in "half Joes,"
at three pounds four shillings each, indicating that the old
currency silver and gold still circulated in this county at that
time.
In 1768, $3,870 in Continental currency was valued in
returning the value of an estate to the county court at only
three pounds, or about six dollars in gold. In 1794, the
executors of Edward Erwin said they had in their possession
"a Bill of Virginia money of twelve hundred dollars, which
we have not been able to dispose of." In 1791, Matthew
Walker exchanged a "gold guinea" with David Flow in
some business transaction. In October, 1792, Robert Irwin
bought 1,084 Continental dollars at the sale of Wm. Whit-
sett, who lived in the town of Charlotte, paying three pounds
nineteen shillings for the same. In the same year John
H
t
K
:
^
■
if the above
■
For the i'-' J /'"' ma^e ana
mypetfyrr liflrators, an,
efibem, jointly and /
rni\Sca'^and dated this \A~t »t£±~ Day 'J <
THE Conation of the above Obligation is fuch, Th
boundeflM*Jfr*w &A«ffr* fat-'t - *■ -
er their, w Mf of &*ir Heirs, Executors! or Adminiftrators,' do and (hall
well and truly pky, or caufe to be paid, unto the faid P.er.ry Eui'.ace McCvl-
hb, or his eertak Attorney. Heirs, Exrculors, Adminiflrators, or Afhgns,
the full andjuft Sum of rfcvwfy if-- *6n. i*A*4&*p*>
et-t^i w«A fi.twceJ ft rv *6*in-m/i &>, nlf-*^ ■—- — «- •- « — >
and Intefeft, to Commence for the fame ff.dbt the Date hereof, in Manner
following; that is to fay, #2<T_,Y <6>£fr» JC-4*J**£ 47faa0i+
so . J&Uy ,770 s/&f fhti 0£&}A*f>
And in Cafe Default thai) happen
and. Intereft, then J&c in-i* <M>
fylfot*** tHv^tv^-^) —
Attorney in tbisTrovince, or rife
cr Suits to be bifeug)
and to receive a Declaratiai
wife, hereby reljafii
of your fufrkierK' Warrant. </iv-
the Day and Ye* !. i :
Signed, S-aleit and Delivered, l
m oj us - — \
{ '7 ) // ' v
V
i »
CONTRACT, 1767.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MONEY. 95
Whitsides bought 7557 dollars of the same currency at the
sale of Moses Swanne, of Charlotte, and paid fourteen
pounds twelve shillings for them.
From 1790 to 1800, many notes were drawn payable in
"Spanish milled dollars." Others were drawn payable in
"half Joes," and others in "silver dollars." During this
period, owing to the establishment of a Federal currency in
1792, in which the dollar was made to consist of ten dimes,
the people here began to draw notes in which £100 was reck-
oned to be $200, ten "shillings" to the dollar. But the cus-
tom of calling ten cents a "shilling" did not become general,
and the shilling of twelve and one-half cents continued in
favor for several years after the beginning of the Nineteenth
Century.
CHAPTER VIII.
NOTES ON THE REGULATION.
Miscellaneous Information Summarized in Paragraphs.— The March
of Mecklenburg Troops to Hillsboro — Gove Tryon's Visit
in the County.— Sentiment Pertaining to the ii..,ulators and the
Governor.
i. On Sunday, September 25th, Rev. -Mr. Suter and Rev.
Henry Patillo preached to the Rowan and Mecklenburg bat-
talions in camp at Hillsboro.
2. On September 28th, " the officers and soldiers of the
Rowan and Mecklenburg- Brigade wrote to Adjutant Gen-
eral and Major of Brigade, desiring them in their behalf to
wait on His Excellency, and in the most dutiful and respect-
ful terms to express their happiness and entire satisfaction
in having this day His Excellency's thanks for their be-
havior since they have been employed on this service, adding
their most ardent wishes for His Excellency's speedy re-
covery."
3. The march of the Mecklenburg and Rowan battalions
from I ->ack to Salisbury was made under the com-
mand <>i Colonel Osborne. Colonel Osborne carried back
with him a pardon for the insurgents, which he read at the
head of the brigade when it arrived at Salisbury, and posted
a copy of it on the court house door. The conditions of the
pardon were that the insurgents were to give bond and se-
curity to pay all their taxes by a certain day and agree not
in the future to obstruct any public officer in the execution of
his office. The principal insurgents, however, were not to
be pardoned, but tried in the courts for their offenses.
4. At a council of war, held at Hillsboro on September
22, 1768, Colonel Robt. Harris, Lieutenant-Colonel Moses
Alexander, Major John Phifer and Captain Thomas Polk,
Mecklenburg's member of the Assembly, were present.
5. The Mecklenburg battalion, which began the march
CONFEDERATE CURRENCY, 1864.
NOTES ON THE REGULATION. 97
to Hillsboro, from Major Phifer's, on September 12, 1768,
consisted of one colonel, one lieutentant-colonel, one major,
seven captains, eight lieutentants, eight ensigns, one adju-
tant, one quartermaster, fifteen sergeants, seven corporals,
seven drummers, and two hundred and fifty-three privates,
making a total force of three hundred and ten men. The
total expenses of the Mecklenburg battalion were £1854 9s.
6d., of which sum Colonel Moses Alexander was paid £608
23. 66.., proclamation money.
6. Mecklenburg furnished for the 1768 expedition against
the Regulators, a force of three hundred and ten men, out of
a total of 1 461, raised to quell the disturbance. The total
expenses of the expedition were £4844 19s. 3d., proclama-
tion money.
7. On Sunday, August 21, 1768, while Governor Tryon
was the guest of Major John Phifer, he and Mr. Phifer at-
tended a church where divine services were conducted by
Rev. Mr. Suter, a "Swiss or Dutch minister." The dis-
course enjoined all to obey the laws of the country.
8. The North Carolina Assembly of November, 1768, ex-
pressed its conviction of the necessity of the action of Tryon
in assembling soldiers at Hillsboro in September of that year,
expressed its detestation of the proceedings of the insur-
gents, extending its thanks to Gov. Tryon for quelling the
insurrection, and promised as soon as the finances would
permit, to pay the expenses of those soldiers who had
marched against the insurgents.
9. The powder burned at Phifer's Hill was not powder
that Gov. Tryon had procured in Charleston, but powder
that Colonel Moses Alexander had bought there, as Com-
missary of the Mecklenburg and Rowan Volunteers.
10. David Caldwell was one of the leading men in the
Rocky River section and an elder at Rocky River Presbyte-
rian Church. Many of the other names signed to the request
for the pardon of the "black boys of Cabarrus" will be
recognized as the names of men who at one time or another
have played a considerable part in the history of the county.
98 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Their statement of the facts about this episode, leaving out
their "obsequious loyalty," ought to commend itself to all
lovers of truth as an authentic presentation of the matter.
ii. To show that the Regulation did not gain any appre-
ciable headway in this county, it may be remembered that
the sheriffs of Rowan and Anson were at a later date em-
powered, on account of the Regulation troubles, to collect
back taxes for the year 1770. No Mecklenburg sheriff ever
asked for the passage of such an act of relief. Hence, it is
to be presumed that whatever taxes were not collected here
were not collecfed for causes others than those attending the
Regulation troubles.
12. As the name of Edmund Fanning is connected with
Mecklenburg history, in connection with Queen's College,
and that connection may be thought strange, in view of all
that has been said about him in North Carolina histories, it
may be interesting to note here that the Assembly proceed-
ings of January 25, 1771, Vol. VIII., page 461, of the
Colonial Records, recites that Fanning had been charged
with many things injurious to his character. It is said
that the House had inquired into those charges and after
the strictest examination found the several accusations to
be "false, wretched and malicious, arising from the malevo-
lence of a set of insurgents, who style themselves Regula-
tors." Captain Alexander was on the committee that in-
vestigated Fanning' s conduct.
13. It is well known that the sentiment of many North
Carolinians, by the year 1772, had changed in regard to
the Regulators. August 30th, 1772, Governor Josiah Mar-
tin wrote Lord Hillsborough that he had lately visited
Orange, Guilford and Chatham counties, and said that as
he went through Guilford County, the Regulators and Hun-
ter, their leader among them, came to him in greit penitence
and contrition and asked pardon. The Regulators claimed
thev had no intention of subverting the government and
maintained that they had been misled. Martin says these
people were barbariously ignorant beyond description, and
NOTES ON THE REGULATION. 99
that mercenary attorneys and other litttle officers had evi-
dently taken advantage of this ignorance.
14. James McCaul, the Regulator, whose advertisement is
said to have been the occasion of the meeting referred to by
James Ashmore in his confession, was an Anson County
man.
CHAPTER IX.
NOTES ON CHAPTER II. (The Indians.)
Items Regarding Important Events. — Very Few Relics Found in
Mecklenburg. — Correspondence Between Governors of North
Carolina and South Carolina Respecting the Catawba.
1. The occasion of the Indians going- to Salisbury and
insulting the Chief Justice and disturbing the court was
this : A band of the Catawbas was returning from Virginia,
where they had gone to take part in one of the campaigns of
the French and Indian war.. These Indians robbed a wagon
and tied the wagoner with his own chain. The whites fol-
lowed the Indians and recovered the stolen goods, which
so incensed the Indians that they acted in the manner indi-
cated above.
2. The Indian remains in this section present no special
peculiarities, except that there are evidences at one or two
points of the work of mound builders. Mr. A. Nixon, of
Lincolnton, N. C, has several ornaments like those usually
found in localities where these prehistoric peoples are known
to have lived. Mr. Nixon has several ornamented pipes
and other interesting relics, collected near Hardin, N. C,
and Iron Station, N. C, in the territory which lies between
the South Fork and the Catawba rivers.
3. Robert Campbell and Thomas Keasey were the two
white men wounded at Fort Dobbs in February, 1760. Both
of these men were pensioned by the Colonial Assembly,
Campbell finally being sent back to England, the Assembly
paying his passage.
4. The Catawba Indians had, in 1755, two hundred and
forty to three hundred warriors, with King Hagler at their
head. In 1760, smallpox reduced the number of warriors
to sixty. Governor Dobbs says that besides the sixty war-
riors, there were left after the smallpox epidemic ended,
sixty old men and boys and a "suitable number of women."
If these figures are reliable, it will be seen that the Catawba
NORTH CAROLINA CURRENCY, 1866.
NOTES ON CHAPTER II. IOI
tribe must have been reduced by disease, in 1760, by about
four-fifths its size in 1755. This also accounts for the fact
that the Catawbas were not heard of as an Indian power
after 1760, and may account, too, for some of their friendli-
ness towards the whites after that date.
5. Governor Dobbs, writing to Governor Boone of South
Carolina, July 6, 1762, says: "Mr. Samuel Wily arrived
here and informs me he had directions from Mr. Bull to run
out lines of the lands alotted for the Catawba Nation, a tract
fifteen miles square, commencing at the Southward from 12
mile Creek to the Northward 15 miles from the East to West
7 miles and a half on each side of Catawba River, pursuant,
as he says, to an agreement made with the Catawba Nation
about a year ago between Mr. Atkins, agent for Indian
affairs, with King Hagler, and Hagler, with these Indians
have arrived here the same day upon the same account.
"It does not a little surprise me to find that Mr. Atkins
should have peremptorily have taken upon him to have fixed
so large a tract of land to them without first acquainting me
with it, as there is the highest probability that all these lands
will be within the province by the parallelled lines which
will determine our boundary, without even showing his
power to me of determining it, without His Majesty's ap-
probation or consulting the Government of this Province,
and still more so in never having communicated his agree-
ment to me since he concluded it.
"And this survey, if perfected would ascertain the Ca-
tawbas' claim hereafter and would at present occasion much
confusion among those who had taken warrants and patents
upon these lands. For upon the Indians' removal from
Sugar Creek Town to 12-Mile Creek, many of the lands
northward from Sugar Town have been surveyed and some
patents isssued, as I appprenended upon their removal, they
had chosen and accepted of other lands, more southerly, and
more so as to their number of warriors have been reduced
in a few years, by Hagler' s confession, from three hundred
to fifty, and all their males don't exceed one hundred old
and young included, as they are now scarce a Nation; the
102 HISTORY OF M KCKLKNBURG COUNTY.
lands alotted to them since their reduction by Mr. Atkin is
144,000 acres.
"As the Catawba's have behaved well, though their num-
bers are reduced, I would agree to their having a large tract
and proportion of land, and would not think it imprudent to
advise His Majesty to allow them a tract 12 miles square,
which would contain 96,000 acres, a sufficient quantity for
so small a number."
"Bounds might be limited between 12-Mile Creek and
Sugar Creek on the east side of Catawba and as much more
to the westward as shall make up the complement, till His
Majesty's approbation is obtained, and therefore at present
should advise that the surrounding lines should be suspended
and only the distance run from 12-Mile Creek to Sugar
Creek, to ascertain that distance, and in the meantime I
shall suspend the issuing of any more patents within that
limit, and think it reasonable that Captain Steward, who
succeeds Mr. Atkins should send me a copy of Mr. Atkins'
power, by which he is acting in fixing their limits without
His Majesty's approbation or the consent of this Province,
and then when the limits are ascertained no private purchase
should be allowed, though their numbers should diminish,
without the approbation of the Government of the Province,
in which the lands may lay, and the General consent of the
Catawba Nation."
The above besides being interesting as bearing on the
general history of the Catawbas, is especially interesting as
mentioning the original town of the Catawbas, on Sugar
Creek. Tradition has not even located that original capital
of the Indian Nation, and it is perhaps now useless to try
to locate it with any degree of certainty. It is enough for us
to remember that this town or original capital of the Ca-
tawbas was on big Sugar Creek, somewhat nearer the pres-
ent town of Charlotte, perhaps, than it was distant from the
final location of the capital on the southern border of this
county.
6. Lawson, in his description of this section in the year
1 701, speaks of the "Sugaree" Indians, as well as the Ca-
7^
w-^d^JL
■*^z-a^ze*cS #3? ~*£****^ ^''" r'
_^^-^^4 *1
s q0Lt2£* . /6zL>4£
3
6
// £y~J&Z* ^JZrr&*Zr
''3 ^J*/s t*>t*s SZnrrc -?( Oy~-
/
ITEMIZED BILL FOR '"LEARNING," 1798.
NOTES ON CHAPTER II. IO3
tawbas. In view of what Governor Dobbs says, in 1762,
and in view of the whole history of the Indians of this sec-
tion, the opinion may be advanced that the Sugarees were a
branch of the Catawbas (Kadapaws in Lawson's vernacu-
lar), and were finally absorbed by them, the name remaining1
in the stream on which their principal settlement was situ-
ated.
CHAPTER X.
NOTES ON CHAPTER XV. (Religion.)
Coming of Rev. Hugh McAden. — Rev. Alexander Craighead With-
draws from the Presbyterian Synod and Comes to North Caro-
lina.— Established Church of England Met With Much Discour-
agement in Mecklenburg.
Rev. Hugh McAden began his trip South with Lancaster
county, Pennsylvania, as a starting point, June 3, 1755. The
second Sunday in June he was at Rock Spring where he met
Rev. James Campbell, who the next year came to North
Carolina, to the Cape Fear section, and has the distinction
of being the first resident Presbyterian minister in the col-
ony, whose name has come down to us. Mr. McAden
crossed the Potomac on June 16, went to Winchester and
came South through the Shenandoah Valley. He preached
at the forks of the James river on the second Sunday in July,
and on Wednesday following at the house of a friend, he
heard the lamentable story of Braddock's defeat by the In-
dians and French. The whole country was thrown into con-
fusion, which increased with the stories of Indian murders
on the frontier. Braddock's defeat and the danger appar-
ently threatening the people of the Valley, sent many fam-
ilies to the more peaceful sections of North Carolina. Rev.
Alexander Craighead, whose congregation on the "Cow
Pasture" had probably been entirely scattered from their
homes, was one of those who came to North Carolina on this
account.
Mr. McAden considered whether he should return to
Pennsylvania or should continue his journey. He writes:
"I resolved to prosecute my journey, come what will, with
some degree of dependence upon the Lord for his divine pro-
tection and support, that I might be able to glorify Him in
all things, whether in life or death." He preached the first
Sunday in August in North Carolina. Soon afterwards he
UNITED STATES BANK NOTE.
NOTES ON CHAPTER XV. IO5
preached most acceptably to the people at the Baptist Yearly
Meeting, in what is now Granville county.
Rev. Alexander Craighead was one of the charter mem-
bers of the Presbytery of Hanover, Virginia, formed by the
Synod of New York, in 1755. He came of a race of Pres-
byterian preachers in Scotland and Ireland where the name
is an honorable one among the Church archives. He came
from the Presbytery of Donegal, in the old country, and
joined the Synod of Philadelphia in 1736. In 1746.. he was
accused 01 unusual methods in his evangelistic services, but
was able to appeal so successfully to the sympathy of the
community that the Presbytery could not bring the case to
an issue. He withdrew from the Synod with eleven others,
in 1 84 1, forming the "New Side" Presbytery of Brunswick.
Then he dropped out of the records for a time, being, as is
supposed, associated with the great Whitfield in his labors in
America.
In 1743, Thomas Cookson, one of His Majesty's justices
in Pennsylvania, brought in a complaint to the Synod of a
certain paper, attributed to Alexander Craighead, a Pres-
byterian minister. It will be noted that Mr. Craighead now
belonged to the opposite party from the Synod. The Synod
set aside all other business to consider the paper, and the
following record was made : "The above mentioned paper,
with an affidavit concerning it, being read in open Synod,
it was unanimously agreed that it was full of treason, sedi-
tion and distraction, and grievous perverting of the sacred
oracles to the ruin of all society and government, and direct-
ly and diametrically opposite to our religious principles; as
we have on all occasions declared to the world; and we
hereby unanimously and with the greatest sincerity declare
that we detest this paper. And if Mr. Alexander Craig-
head be the author, we know nothing of the matter ; and we
hereby declare that he hath been no member of this society
for some time past, nor do we acknowledge him as such,
though we cannot but heartily lament that any man that
was ever called a Presbyterian should be guilty of what is
in this paper." In addition to this, the moderator, with
106 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
three leading members, was appointed a committee to draw
up an address to the Governor on the occasion.
This seems a little hard on Mr. Craighead. Probably,
thirty years afterwards, the members of the same Synod
would have considered the paper a most patriotic document,
when every Presbyterian minister and almost the whole body
of the people were on the side of the colonies as against the
crown and were preaching sedition and treason at every op-
portunity.
July 20, 1766, Rev. Mr. Reed, an Episcopal clergyman,
writing from New Bern to the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, says : "Mr. Morton arrived here about the
1 8th of last month from the northward and stayed with me
to refresh himself a few days, then proceeded to Brunswick
to wait upon the Governor and from thence intended to go
to Mecklenburg county. But on his arrival at Brunswick,
he was very creditably, and, I believe, very truly informed,
that the inhabitants of that county evaded the Vestry Act
by electing the most rigid dissenters for Vestrymen who
would not quaify; that the county abounded witn dissenters
of various denominations and particularly with Covenant-
ers, Seceders, Anabaptists and New Lights; that he would
meet with a very cold, if any reception at all, have few or
no hearers and lead a very uneasy life." Governor Tryon
took a more charitable and tolerant view of the religious
conditions in this county and said to the same Society Octo-
ber 1, 1766: "I intend as a rule to myself to dispose of the
ministers as they arrive into those counties where the inhabi-
tants are most willing to receive them. Those of Mecklen-
burg county are almost all Presbyterians. I have, therefore,
sent Mr. Morton, at his own request, to Northampton coun-
ty." On August 25, 1766, Mr. Morton himself wrote that
he "was well informed that the inhabitants of Mecklen-
burg are entire dissenters of the most rigid kind. That they
had a solemn league and covenant teacher settled among
them ; that they were in general greatly averse to the Church
of England, and that they looked upon a law lately enacted
in this province for the better establishment of the Church
NOTES ON CHAPTER XV. IO/
as oppressive as the Stamp Act, and were determined to pre-
vent its taking place there by opposing the settlement of any
minister of the Church of England that might be sent among
them." In 1766, it was said that Pennsylvania was the
breeding place of sects; that that colony sent down to this
province all kinds of sects and among the number "gifted
brethren," or "New Lights." In 1767, Governor Tryon
estimated the white taxables of Mecklenburg at 1,600,
"mostly Presbyterians."
It is not very probable that the Rev. Mr. Reed or the Rev.
Mr. Morton knew very much about the different classes of
dissenters, the terms, Covenanters and Seceders, simply re-
ferring to the Scotch antecedents of the Presbyterians, and
"New Light," probably denoting the "New Side" branch
of the Presbyterian Church, though the Old and New side
had by this time been united. Nor is it probable that there
were any "Anobaptists" in Mecklenburg in the historical
sense of the word. There may have been some Baptists here
as there were in other parts of the colony, and they always
stood with the Presbyterians in their advocacy of civil and
religious liberty.
In January, 1771, the Assembly .passed an act which the
Governor wisely signed, and which took away one of the
long-standing grievances of this section. It was introduced
by Edmund Fanning, Thomas Polk being one of the special
committee appointed to formulate the statute. It permitted
regularly called Presbyterian ministers to solemnize the
rites of marriage by publication in their assemblies or by
license. Fanning reported that the restrictions put upon
Presbyterian ministers worked great hardships, the people
having been trained to prefer the ceremony celebrated by a
minister to marriage by a justice of the peace.
In 1770 Providence congregation established a church in
the Clear Creek section for the convenience of those mem-
bers who lived in that neighborhood, and this later on be-
came the Philadelphia Church.
There were some members of the Episcopal Church com-
ing in with the English emigrants from the East, a? is evi-
dent from the mention of the Book of Prayer occasionally
Io8 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
at the sale of libraries. In DeRosset's Church History of
North Carolina, we find this statement: "Speaking of the
marriage of dissenters by dissenting clergymen, Bishop
Cheshire says: 'It seems an ungracious provision of this
law, meant to be an act of courtesy as well as of justice, to
the growing settlements along the Yadkin and the Catawba,
that it provided that the Episcopal minister in the parish
where the marriage was performed should be entitled to the
fee, if he had not refused to perform the service. This, how-
ver, was of less consequence, as there was not a single min-
ister in any parish in the province where a Presbyterian min-
ister resided.' "
Prior to 1767, the Germans of Cabarrus had a pastor at
Coldwater, Mr. Suter, who preached there in August, 1768,
when Governor Tryon was visiting at John Phifer's. This
church on Coldwater was the first Reformed Church founded
in North Carolina. About 1760, the Lutherans and Re-
formed Germans built a log church in the present county of
Catawba, near the present town of Newton, which they
called St. Paul's. In 1764, this church was served by Mr.
Dupert. Paul Anthony and Henry Weidner (Whitner)
were the prime movers in this church enterprise, which
seems to have been the oldest church erected in Catawba
county, in territory then regarded as belonging to Meck-
lenburg.
On October 26, 1 767, Matthew Floyd was granted a tract
of land on the waters of the South Fork of the Catawba,
joining the lands of Jonathan Potts and Peter Statler, "in-
cluding a school house." This school house was built by
the Lutherans and German Calvinists about 1765, and was
also used for church purposes, being one of the oldest
churches west of the Catawba river. On this spot are now
situated two churches, five miles west of the present town of
Lincolnton, the one a Lutheran and the other a Reformed
church, which have been erected by the descendants of the
pioneer inhabitants of that section which was once a part
of Mecklenburg. This original union church was known as
"school house" church until after 181 9, when its name be-
came Daniel's Church.
CHAPTER XI
HISTORY OF MINING IN MECKLENBURG.
Historic Anticipations— Discoveries in Florida— First Find in the
County — Geology of Mecklenburg — Development of Mining — Sta-
tistics of the Branch Mint in Charlotte.
By George B. Hanna, E. M.*
From the earliest entrance of the Spaniards into the terri-
tory, now known as the United States, the question of the
precious metals was always the foremost consideration. The
larsre treasure found in Mexico and in Peru excited the
cupidity of this avaricious race, and suggested the exist-
ence of other stores in other, parts of the New World.
On entering Florida, the first inquiry was concerning
gold. Native copper from the shores of Lake Superior, and
probably also from the mountains of the Carolinas, as well
as mica from this latter region, had been widely scattered to
the South, Southwest and Southeast among the natives, the
copper being used largely for tools, and the mica for orna-
ments.
It is now quite certain from the results of modern exhu-
mations in Florida and along the cost of the Gulf States,
that nuggets of gold had also traveled thither from what we
now call the Southern Appalachian gold region, and were
used widely both for barter and for ornaments.
The gold found in the exhumations has been assayed in
late years, and found to correspond with the gold from the
mountains of Georgia and of the Carolinas, and this indi-
cation of origin is confirmed by the physical appearance of
the nuggets.
It is not probable that De Soto or his immediate followers
ever penetrated the Appalachian mountains, but scattered
parties of his followers apparently did, as evidenced by their
*Prepared by Prof. Hanna especially for this book.
IIO HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
frequent allusions to these mountains and rivers under
names variously spelled by the early Spanish chroniclers.
The Altamaha river, for instance, became a familiar name
as a source of gold. An early traveler even went so far as
to picture the rude way which the natives in the region of
the Altamaha had in panning, or rather concentrating, the
fine particles of gold — a method totally unknown at the
present time among our miners — an agitation with air or
water in hollow tubes of cane.
The earliest American miners of the nineteenth century
have denied that the Indians ever practiced the collection of
the fine gold; their extremest skill went no farther than the
securing of nuggets and coarse gold, which could be picked
out with the fingers.
The vast collections of the Spaniards held the world spell-
bound, and when the English came to this country, they, too,
gave their attention to the possible occurrence of the pre-
cious metals, though cupidity was held in subjection to the
practical aims of the settlers; gold was only an incidental
end. Sir Walter Raleigh, in his assignment of territorial
rights, reserved to himself one-fifth of the gold and silver
that might be discovered.
The immigrants to the Piedmont section of the Carolinas,
as soon as securely settled, began to hunt for gold. Several
points are known where prospecting was carried on more
than 125 years ago. Among these was the Aborigines
shaft at the Brewer mine in Chesterfield county, S. C,
and the Oliver mine in Gaston county, near the Catawba
river, from which an old German miner was frightened
away by the approach of Cornwallis' troops.
FIRST DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
The search was finally rewarded. The little son of Con-
rad Reed, of Cabarrus county, in 1799, found a large nugget
at the Reed mine, and soon thereafter, and continuing till the
present time, other nuggets of varying sizes have been
mined, and soon after nuggets were found at the locality
HISTORY OE MINING IN MECKLENBURG. Ill
afterwards known as the Dunn mine, near Rozzel's Ferry,
in Mecklenburg county ; and as at the Reed mine, the charac-
ter of the nuggets was not suspected, and they were used by
the local gunsmiths for the ignoble purpose of "bushing"
rifles.
The spirit of discovery spread, and by 1821 the known
producing area in North Carolina was, according to Olm-
sted, 1,000 square miles in extent, reaching from Montgom-
ery county and Anson (including Union county, not then
set off), in the east to Gaston county in the west, and to Guil-
ford county in the north; a distinct race of native profes-
sional "gold hunters" had arisen, which steadily enlarged
the limits of producing territory.
The date of the opening of the first mine is unknown to
the writer, but it is supposed that the McCombs mine was
the first. In Professor Mitchell's report in 1826, two mines,
the McCombs and the Capps, are indicated on the accompa-
nying map as in full work in Mecklenburg county, and from
the description, the McCombs mine seems to have been well
equipped for that period. This mine is one mile west of
Charlotte, and later was known as the Old Charlotte, and
still more recently as the St. Catherine mine.
GEOLOGY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
The eastern part of Mecklenburg county shows argillite
or clay slate, and the western, bordering on Gaston, has
granite, or more properly speaking, gneiss; the interior part
from north to south, is an area o<f confused material, which
may show in a small hand specimen several varieties of
rock. Dikes everywhere seam the country, and both dikes
and the formation which they penetrate are altered and per-
oxidized, and softened to a surprising depth. The area,
in its longitudinal extension from northeast to southwest,
was designated by Professor Emmons as the "Salisbury
and Greensboro granite;" it can only be called granite by a
very considerable degree of accommodation, for it contains a
heavy proportion of hornblende, pyroxene, chlorite and epi-
112 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
dote. It is probably among- the most primitive rocks on the
American continent, and apparently antedated the intro-
duction of the earliest life, as it has not, in the writer's
knowledge, shown the smallest fossil. The history of opin-
ion among the geologists of this immediate belt of which
Mecklenburg forms a conspicuous part, is extremely curious.
Olmsted, Mitchell, and Rothe, all eminent men, early exam-
ined it; Olmsted (1821) thought it to be argillite, (clay
slate); Rothe (1826) regarded it as granite and gneiss;
Mitchell (1826) was more cautious, and fluctuated between
the two. Professor Eaton thought it to be talcose slate.
Professor Emmons, State Geologist of North Carolina,
called it (1856) the igneous or py rocry stall ine formation.
Professor Kerr, a most careful observer (Geology of North
Carolina, vol. 1, page 123, 1875,) says, "the characteristic
and prevalent rocks are syenyte, doleryte, greenstone, am-
phibolyte. granite, porphyry and trachyte." Other observ-
ers, however, place the formation high up in the geological
column. Nitze, ''Bulletin No. 10, North Carolina Geological
Survey, 1897, page 15), designates the rock as "devitrified
ancient colcanics, (rhyolite, quartz-porpryry, etc., and
pyro-clastic breccias; igneous plutonic rock, granite, diorite.
diabase, etc.")
The formation is everywhere pierced by trap dikes, which
in weathering have, near the surface, been peroxidized and
mingled confusedly with the weathered material of the for-
mation proper, down to a depth in some instances of 100 feet.
Becker has aptly called this material "Saprolite," or rotten
rock (16 Annual Report United States Geological Survey,
part III, 1894-95. pages 289 and 290.)
It is evident that a name at once descriptive and compre-
hensive is lacking, and probably will be lacking till either
the United States or the State Geological Survey takes the
matter up, and deals with the material by careful field work,
supplemented by the most extensive chemical and microscop-
ical examination in the laboratory.
There is very little true stratification, but some stratifica-
tion due to dynamic metamorphism.
'tar.
u\HtnaUurrcncti;
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STATE of NOK'Ti) CAROLINA.
H IS Tj.ll (nliilfS the Htsrcr to rfctive 0»
£>shlH pf * Spanish milW Dollar, or ttr
i.' in CiolGor Silvu. Mrfwblf fo*
REVOLUTIONARY CURRENCY.
History of Mining in Mecklenburg. 113
It may be added that it is not known that a fossil has ever
been found in the country. The identification of the forma-
tion depends on mineralogical characters, or the strati-
graphy, and to some extent on the associations.
MINERALS OE THE COUNTY.
The late Dr. F. A. Genth, a very close observer and an
indefatigable student, gives the following list of minerals
found in Mecklenburg county :
Malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite, chrysccolla, bornite,
copper glance, cuprite, chalcotrichite, barnhardtite, mela-
conite, native copper, galenite, lead, monazite, diamond,
leopardite, rutile, misaeous iron ore, magnetite, chalybite,
soapstone, sphalerite, gold, silver, platinum,' mica, granite,
quartz, amethyst, graphite, arsenic, (mineralized), arsenic,
(native), antimony, (mineralized), antimony, (native),
cobalt, (mineralized), nickel, (mineralized).
Few of these are of commercial importance. Iron ore has
been found sporadically over the entire county. Micaceous
iron ore (or specular iron, or red hematite), of high grade
and purity are found widely scattered, but in small quantity.
Magnetic iron ore is found in Steel Creek township on the
plantation of Dr. Strong, near Center A. R. P. church, in
several narrow veins, also at Hopewell, and near the old
Rock Island Factory, on the Catawba ; specular hematite is
also found in the north part of the county, near Davidson
College. A great deal of labor has been given in prospecting
for iron ; an occasional vein or rather seam has been found,
but ore in commercial quantity is not known. Chalybite
occurs very sparingly at most gold mines.
Copper minerals were long dreaded by the gold miners,
and especially by the mill men, who thought, and with some
reason, that this element prevented the collection of the
gold in the amalgamating process. The mining population
learning about 1854, of the discovery of workable ores of
copper in other parts of the State, especially in Guilford
county, prospected most diligently for similar ores in this
ii4 History of Mecklenburg County.
county. Large workable deposits were not found except in
two or three instances; occasionally, as at the Cathey mine,
the Rogers, the Crosby, and the Ray mines, pockets of cop-
per have been found rich enough for a separate and a smelt-
ing treatment; in every mine the small amounts of auriferous
ores mined in regular work, have been sorted out till an
accumulation of such material has justified shipment to
smelting works, usually to Boston, Baltimore, or Swansea.
No further special treatment on a large scale has ever been
given to this class of ores, and none are now mined. Lead
and silver ores are sometimes found, but never in quantities
to attract attention. The gold ores invariably contain a small
proportion of silver. Zinc ore (sphalerite) is still more
rare.
Arsenic, antimony, and bismuth, tellurium, etc., mineral-
ized arsenic, antimony and bismuth, sometimes occur in the
auriferous sulphurets in minute percentages; metallic arse-
nic and antimony have been reported. The occurrence of
tellurets, etc., is doubtful.
Monazite and rutite have been found in placer work con-
centrated with the gold. Mica is sparingly, but widely dis-
tributed wherever granite rocks occur, but it is rarely found
in pieces large enough for industrial purposes. Graphite
(black lead), is found in small quantities as an accessory in
most mines of the county. Amethyst and quartz crystals
are frequently met with, but few of notable value have been
found.
Cobalt and nickel in very small percentages occur in the
McGinn mine; the former occasionally as peach blossom ore
(erythrite), and both metals are occasionally found as an
accidental constituent of the auriferous sulphurets; their
occurrence has hitherto proved of no industrial importance.
Granite and other building minerals and material are
found along the Catawba river, and near the Iredell line, and
in patches in various parts of the country, but they have
rarely found a use out of the immediate neighborhood in
which they are found.
Soapstone of an impure variety occurs locally in many
History of Mining in Mecklenburg. 115
places, and has found an important local use in the con-
struction of fireplaces and chimneys.
Limestone and gypsum in commercial quantity are want-
ing. Marls and phosphates are unknown.
Leopardite is found near the factory settlement now called
Belmont. It extends in a narrow ledge on the lands of
Mr. William W. Phifer, a distance of nearly one-third of a
mile. It is substantially an orthoclase felspar with veinlets
and spots of black oxide of manganese penetrating it as the
roots of grass penetrate a soil. The black and white con-
stituents are mingled in most pleasing variety, and have
made it a beautiful ornamental stone, but it is so hard and
irregular and so abounds in "dry seams" as to be trouble-
some and uncertain to work. Blocks of more than local
interest have been quarried. One of these blocks was sent
by the public spirited citizens of Charlotte to the Washing-
ton monument. Another block is a part of the foundation
of the mint, and still another lies in the pavement in front
of Jordan's drug store. As a whole, it has failed to find its
expected use. "Float" blocks of leopardite have also been
found at Hunter's Calcic Springs, at Derita.
Sandstone for building purposes is absent.
Coal does not exist. In fact these geological formations
are not the home of the coal beds.
One diamond was found in the gold sands of Todd's
branch in Paw Creek township in 1852; Dr. C. L. Hunter,
who was familiar with its history, says : "It weighs about
three-fourths of a carat, and is nearly of the first water."
This locality, with many others, has been repeatedly ex-
amined for this precious stone, but hitherto the result has
been negative. If the gold sands had been carefully exam-
ined in the palmy days of placer mining, it is highly proba-
ble that other specimens of the gem would have been found.
Garnets and zircons are sometimes found in the gold
sands, but not in usable quantity.
A few scales of platinum were claimed to have been found
in the placer workings in the northeast border of the county,,
near the Pioneer Mills neighborhood.
iki History <»f Mecklenbi rg County.
Material for brick making is found everywhere; for the
most part the altered, weathered, and thoroughl) rotted
country rock immediately above the bed rock is chosen
brick making-. The brick manufactured is strong and dura-
ble, but not so sightly as the Philadelphia and Wilmington
brick; nevertheless it finds a wide and profitable use.
ECONOMIC MINERALS.
The economic minerals and mine materials are confined
to gold (and incidentally silver) ores, copper ores and mate-
rial for building uses.
The precise year in which gold was found in Mecklen-
burg county is unknown ; by 1821 placer work was practiced
somewhat extensively, and as the placers became exhausted,
the veins which supplied the placers were searched out. The
situation in 1821 was discussed by Professors Olmsted,
and Mitchell; in 1830 the mining- localities were very
numerous. Until the discovery of gold in California in
1847, this county was the seat of a very active industry; a
large number of miners and speculators turned away to
this new Eldorado, and from this period gold mining lagged,
until at the close of the late war only one mine, the Rudisil,
was in operation.
The mines of Mecklenburg county are quite widely scat-
tered over its area. In this area of 20 by 30 miles, are nearly
100 mines, which at one or another time have been worked
profitably, and gold is more widely diffused than in any
other county of the central part of the State.
The ores of these mines are auriferous and sometimes
cupriferous; they rarely contain any notable amound of lead,
zinc or nickel ; the sulphur present is usually combined
with iron. Arsenic and antimony are not common; the
sulphur, in the form of sulphurets. was formerly greatly
dreaded by the mill men as a great hindrance, but now the
presence of the sulphurets is accounted an advantage. The
vein fissures are from a few inches to 60 feet wide. Most of
these fissures are filled with killas (slates), quartz and ores.
History of Mixing in Mecklenburg. 117
but in depth the slaty structure is not so evident, or does
not exist. The quartz itself shows a tendency to lamination,
and there is often a parallelism in the bodies of sulphurets.
The weathering- influences have peroxidized the iron con-
stituents of the entire surface to a great depth, sometimes to
a depth of 150 feet.
There has been no glacial action, other than a purely local
and sedentary one, and the disintegrated surface has
remained largely in place. The upper part of the vein has
undergone a corresponding change, in which much of the
slaty part has "rotted" to "saprolites" and changed to a
more or less hydrated "brown ore;" the copper pyrites has
altered to malachite (rarely to azurite), chrysocalla, and
sometimes to red or black oxide of copper, or occasionally
to native copper, and quite often has been leached out from
the surface ores, or has been concentrated at lower levels.
The brown ore holds not only the gold which was originally
in the sulphurets, but it has been further enriched as a result
of the alterations, as is shown by the presence of grain and
nugget gold, which is found in this zone more abundantly.
Such ores are easily won and are treated without expensive
machinery, for the process is a mechanical rather than a
metallurgical one ; ordinarily a relatively large part of the
gold is extracted at a small cost.
The permanent water level of the mines is, perhaps, a
little below that of the adjacent streams, and is found at a
depth of from twenty to sixty feet. The amount of water
in the mines is usually large, and a very considerable part
of the expense of mining is due to the cost of pumping. At
the water level the sulphurets occur with little alteration, and
the value of the ores is apt to be smaller, as the sources
of the enrichment have been less active than in the gossan
part near the surface. Any general statement must neces-
sarily find exceptions, and occasionally the very best ores
of a mine have been found at great depths, e. g., the Rudisil
mine, where three "chimneys" or "shoots" of great width,
(11 feet), and longitudinal extent are found with very ex-
ceptionally high grade ores.
1 18 History of Mecklenburg County.
The difficulty in dealing with the ores from these levels
efficiently and economically was also increased so long as
amalgamation was practiced, and the winning of the gold
from these complex ores was early shown to be the vexed
problem that we know to-day.
The great expense of mining and treating such ores, and
the decreased yield led to the abandonment of the larger
part of the mines of North Carolina, and most of them still
remain closed. Occasionally the ore bodies actually disap-
pear entirely in this zone, through the closing in of the
syenite walls, i. e., by the "pinching out"' of the ore body.
The veins are too numerous for special description here.
To a great extent they are capable of grouping into neigh-
borhoods pre-eminently mineral.
MINING GROUPS.
The vicinity of Charlotte is one of these mineral districts,
and around it on all sides are mines, among them the David-
son, Blake, Point, Parks, Clark, St. Catherine, Rudisil,
Smith & Palmer, McDonald, Howell, Trotter, Carson, Tay-
lor, Isenhour (Iceyhour), Chinquepin, and many others un-
known to the general public, or unnamed.
A second group is three to ten miles west and north
west from Charlotte, viz., Summerville, Hayes, McGee,
Brawley, Frazer, Hipp, Campbell, Todd, Arlington, Capps,
McGinn, Means, S. Wilson, Troutman, Prim, Abernathy,
Alexander (Chapman), Dunn, Sloan, McCorkle and Cathey.
A third group is found around the Ferris (Faires). six
miles north of Charlotte, the Alexander and the Garris. and
to the west of the Ferris, the Henderson, Elwood and the
J. P. Hunter.
Another group is found in Providence township, and
about Sardis church, some five to ten miles southeast from
Charlotte, among others the Hunter mine (two veins),
Tredinick, and the Ray (three veins).
The Pioneer Mills group, in Cabarrus county, extends
History of Mining in Mecklenburg. 119
into the northeast part of Mecklenburg. Specially promi-
nent are the Johnson, Stinson, Maxwell, Black and Harris.
The Davidson Hill mine, (really three mines), one mile
west of Charlotte, has been worked to the depth of 160 feet
at its north end.
The Rudisil and St. Catherine are respectively the south
and north ends of the same mine, being one-half mile to
one mile southwest from Charlotte. Both mines have been
worked almost from the earliest days of the vein mining of
this section, and the former has received more attention
than any mine in the county. The strike is N. 30 degrees
E. and the dip nearly 45 degrees westerly. At the outset,
and to a depth of 100 feet, two bodies of ore (or veins)
were exploited — the "back vein" and the "front vein;" the
two varied from two to six feet in thickness ; at 200 feet the
vein appears more consolidated. This mine, for many years,
was prosperous, the material being the easily treated famil-
iar brown ores; from 100 to 200 feet the ore was more scat-
tered through the gange; just below the 200 foot level three
rich shoots of ore made their appearance, one of which far
excelled the gossan in richness; it reached below the 350
foot level, at which depth the vein was apparently "thrown"
from its position.
No statistics of production exist, but it is quite certain
that the yield has been not less than a half million dollars.
The St. Catherine end of the vein has had a history almost
as eventful and has been worked to the vertical depth of 370
feet. The Capps (or Capps Hill) mine is five and one-half
miles from Charlotte. It is one of a group of mines closely
united, of which two are convergent — the McGinn or Jane
gold vein, and the Capps. The former courses with some
variations N. 40 to 60 degrees E., and dips S. E. ; the
Capps courses N. 30 degrees to 35 degrees W., and has a
southwest dip. The McGinn mining tract has also some
small and less well known veins approximating to the Capps
in strike. The Capps is known to be fully 3,000 feet long,
and the Jane vein is of equal extent ; the former was worked
i.2o History of Mecklenburg County.
to a depth of [60 feet, and the Jane or McGinn to 150 feet.
Both veins have been very productive. Some of the older
miners attribute an output of Sj. 000,000 to the Capps. The
record of underground worjk is in great part lost, but there
are abundant indication- of very extensive work two gen-
erations ago. The Dunn mine, ten miles northwest from
Charlotte was the first discovered mine of the county, not
long after the finding of the historic Reed nugget.
Few mines are now worked in Mecklenburg county; the
only ones of importance are the Capps, Surface ! [ill and the
Wilhelmina, ( Summerville. )
METALLURGICAL TREATMENT OF GOLD ORES.
The early methods practiced in placer work were speedily
developed, and in no long time brought to a high degree of
efficiency by the native miners working along the old famil-
iar lines. The cradle, the torn and the sluice, with blanket
washings, constituted the earliest forms of recovery; quick-
silver was early introduced, and greatly assisted the profit-
able extraction of gold. On account of the comparative flat-
ness of the surface of the county, hydraulic methods found
little opportunity for application or development.
About 1825, the rocker, the drag mill and the arrastra,
or Chilian mill, were known to be in use. As soon as the
hard quartz was discovered there was immediately a neces-
sity for some grinding apparatus ; the home-made drag mill
was the first step and no more efficient single machine has
ever been introduced for saving the gold; its defect is lack
of capacity, and this lack finally led to the introduction of
the arrastra, which was also made of home material. The
arrastra or Chilian mill was copied from South American
models, but the models were greatly excelled. The Hunga-
rian bowl and jigs came shortly thereafter. The stamp mill,
(the pounding mill, as it was then termed), soon followed;
the earliest stamp mill known to the writer was put up at the
Haile mine, Lancaster county, S. C, in 1837, by a French-
History of Mining in Mecklenburg. 121
man named Gugnot; it is claimed that the first stamp mill
in Mecklenburg county was erected in 1840, at St. Cathe-
rine's mill at the outlet of Bissell's pond, two miles south-
west from Charlotte; the remains of this mill were still stand-
ing in 1872. This was the work of the late Humphrey Bis-
sell, a co-laborer with Morse 011 the telegraph, and one of the
most skillful and intelligent of the old mining population.
This mill was used as one piece in a train of machinery,
Which accomplished a very thorough extraction, and was
used for many years as a custom mill by most of the mine
owners of the county within easy reach. This mill merits
a brief description, for it was the progenitor of the powerful
stamp battery, (the California stamp battery), now so gen-
erally used in dealing with gold ores; the frame work was
of light timber, and the foundations were weak; the stems
were also of wood of square section; the stamps were of
cast iron, and the mortar, also of iron, was shallow and nar-
row. The whole structure was a toy compared with bat-
teries now used.
It is worthy of passing remark that the late Mr. Edward
Bissell and Dr. Daniel Asbury both informed the writer that
Mr. Humphrey Bissell had also anticipated the modern
stamp battery of the Lake Superior copper region in making
a mortar with discharges from both faces.
The first improved California stamp battery was erected
soon after the Civil War.
Mr. Bissell, with great forethought, had forecast the
possibilities of the mining future of this county and section,
and had visited Europe and studied the metallurgical meth-
ods practiced at Freiberg, Swansea and other metallurgical
and mining centers. On returning to Charlotte, in connec-
tion with a German engineer, he set up a small experimental
smelting plant, which was operated for several campaigns.
Dates are wanting. From the papers, which he left, it may
be inferred that he smelted for gold directly, and also
practiced copper matte smelting. His untimely death ter-
minated his experiments.
122 History of Mecklenburg County.
Other experimental furnaces were erected by oth^r parties,
hut trustworthy data of these experiments are not known to
the writer.
Very marked progress was made in milling, amalgamating
and concentrating, and many of the methods now practiced
in the West owed their earliest popularization to the South
Appalachian slope. Even the method of dredge mining,
now carried out so extensively in the West, in New Zealand
and in Georgia, appears to have been early outlined on the
borders of Mecklenburg county in the Catawba river.
Dr. J. H. Gibbon, assayer of the mint in Charlotte, as
early as 1843 says tnat a Mr. Gibson took out a patent for
a location on the Catawba river, naively remarking that he
cared. nothing for the water, but for the gravel on its bed;
the bottom of the river was scooped out by men on a float,
using long handled shovel-like-scoops, and the material was
carried ashore and washed for recovering the gold.
Very early in the history of vein mining the South was
visited and exploited by every class of foreign miners of all
degrees of skill, from the learned and experienced mining
engineer to the humblest class of underground laborers; the
writer's notes evidence the presence of Mexican, Brazilian,
Spanish, French, German, Australian, Hungarian, Italian,
Turkish, English, Scotch, Welsh and Irish miners. But the
Cornish miners outstayed all others, and formed a very
unmerous population, even so late as 40 years ago. Many
of the best citizens of Mecklenburg are descended from these
old miners : for instance, the Gluyas family, the Chapman
family, the Tredinicks, the Groses, the Northeys, Severs,
Elwoods, Richards, Lilycrops, Vivians, Fidlers, Hoopers,
M<>vles, Symons, Treloars, and Venos, show the vigor and
worth of the race of early miners from abroad.
The earliest period of speculative mining began about
1830, and was ended by the commercial depression of that
decade, and by 1839-40 the excitement had largely subsided.
In the forties it commenced again and lasted with some
vigor till the discovery of gold in California in 1848, when
History of Mining in Mecklenburg. 123
there was an immediate stampede of the mining popula-
tion. The war between the States put an end to all opera-
tions, and when it closed the Rudisil mine was the only one
operated in the county.
Among the noted characters who figured during this
period were Mr. Humphrey Bissell, a graduate of Yale Col-
lege, and a learned and versatile man. The chevalier Vincent
de Rivafanoli played a conspicuous part in the early thirties.
He has been given the credit of having served under the
great Napoleon, and of having enjoyed his confidence. He
brought and engaged a large staff, and occupied for his
headquarters and residence the house lately occupied by the
Yates family, on South Tryon street. His style of living
was deemed magnificent for that day, and his organization
was run on severely military lines. "His chief mines were
the Rudisil and the St. Catherine.
Thomas Penman operated many mines over a period of
several years. Dr. Daniel Asbury was also a skillful ope-
rator, and made several fortunes.
Commodore Stockton and Admiral Wilkes mined suc-
cessfully for several years.
With the exception just mentioned, the apparatus intro-
duced in this period was grinding and concentrating
machinery. The grinding machines were largely the pan —
an iron drag mill — and the iron Chilian mill. In the pan the
bed sometimes revolved (the Berdan pan), but commonly
the revolution was the normal one of the mullers or grinders
about a vertical axis with projecting arms. It was gen-
erally maintained by careful observers that these iron pans
were inferior to mills made of stone — stone grinding on
stone — and it is quite certain that the old mill men made a
better recovery with their home-made apparatus. The main
elements of the metallurgical problem were early perceived,
and attacked.
After the war and continuing to the present time, a swarm
of speculators and inventors came from the newly devel-
oped mining sections of the West. Charlotte nas always
i_>4 History o* Mecklenburg Coi nty.
been the center of their operations. Very little of permanent
value has resulted.
Not less than 4<S different processes or methods have been
first or last introduced within the writer's observation in the
Appalachian section, and most of them in Mecklenburg
county, of which only two survive as practical, though it is
possible that another one, (the cyanide treatment), may
ultimately be widely applicable.
The elements of the problem to be solved are: Pulveriza-
tion, concentration, roasting, (or expelling the sulphur, with
incidental oxidation) and the extraction of the gold and
silver.
The pulverization has finally been left to the old stone
drag mill, the arrastra. and the stamp battery; efforts to sup-
plant these were :
i. Revolving pulverizers on a horizontal axis. (Names
and close descriptions of these are omitted on professional
grounds..)
2. Pan grinding, i. e.. discs revolving in the bed of the
pan.
3. Iron mills after the general form of the drag mill, or
the arrastra. Of these nine different forms are known.
4. Crushing with Cornish rolls.
The old-fashioned drag mill, arrastra, and stamp battery,
(with an occasional use of rolls, and iron arrastras), have
outlived the others. In other words, the older f< ons, in spite
of uneconomical use of power and labor, have proved most
useful, and in the long run most economical.
CONCENTRATION.
The course followed in concentrating has been: sizing by
trommels, and other apparatus, followed by jigging, and
supplemented by crushing and concentrating by spitz boxes,
by sweeping tables, or by buddies, or by belts. Five different
systems have been used.
Sizing, jigging, crushing and (after amalgamation) con-
History of Mining in Mecklenburg. 125
centrating on belts have been found to be the best and most
generally applicable methods.
ROASTING.
Here the crudest ideas have been exemplified. Generally
described the following forms may noted : Magnetic roast-
ing, chloridizing roasting, (two methods), horizontal roast-
ing furnace with vertical axis; shaft roasting, i. e., dropping
the pulverized ore from a height against an upward current
of hot air; kiln roasting, roasting with carbonaceous mat-
ter, as sawdust, roasting the ore while passing through
highly heated spiral pipes.
The horizontal roasting furnace with vertical axis is
sometimes used even now, but on the whole the old-fash-
ioned reverberatory furnace, with two or three hearths has
proved the most applicable 'to the wants of this section,
being at once effective and easily under control, though pos-
sibly not the most economical of fuel or of labor.
THE EXTRACTION OF THE GOLD AND SILVER BY AMALGA-
MATION.
The old methods of amalgamation were grinding the ore
in drag mills and in arrastras with the use of mercury at the
end of the grinding for collecting the gold liberated, with
occasionally a rude concentration of the tailings by rockers.
sweeping tables, launders and strakes. mercury frequently
being used on or in the extra apparatus ; later came the
stamp battery with amalgamation in the mortar, and on cop-
per or silvered copper plates, from which the gold was af-
terwards scraped ; the defect of these was the uneconomical
use of power and labor, and the inefficient collection of the
gold; at least 25 per cent, was lost in the rejected tailings,
and perhaps 50 per cent.
More ingenuity has been expended in devising improved
methods of amalgamation than in any other dq^artment of
126 History of Mecklenburg County.
the metallurgy, and not one of these amalgamation methods
has survived, thus leaving the field to the old methods of
fifty years ago.
THE CHEMICAL TREATMENT OF THE ORES.
Five methods were used at different times, but all were
too costly, as well as ineffective.
One of the most noted was : The Designolle process, con-
sisting of the treatment of the roasted pulp with corrosive
sublimate in iron vessels, with the intention of bringing the
liberated mercury into touch with each particle of gold.
In the cyanide method, the pulp was treated with a weak
solution of cyanide of potassium, which has a strong solvent
action on gold, which subsequently was precipitated by zinc,
or by electrolysis.
In other countries, (e. g., South Africa), and other parts
of the United States, cyaniding has been successful, but in
Mecklenburg county and the South in general, it has in the
long run been uncertain.
The Plattner Chlorination, though effective in Europe and
in California, has not been effective in this section.
Chloridizing, or the roasting of gold ores with the addi-
tion of common salt to convert the gold into soluble chlo-
rides, was also uncertain.
Barrell chlorination (two methods) has, after various
vicissitudes, been brought to a wide and effective application
in the mode known as the "Thies Chlorination Process ;" it
is cheap, efficient and thorough.
Three methods of electrical treatment were introduced,
but the results have not been revealed to the public.
Direct smelting for bullion has been a failure.
Lead smelting, followed by the cupellation of the base lead
bullion for the gold and silver contents has been successfully
carried out at least twice, and was successful metallurgically,
but not economically, as there are no lead ores within easy
reach.
History oe Mining in Mecklenburg. 127
Matte smelting, by which roasted and raw ores and con-
centrates are smelted together and an artificial sulphide of
cipper formed, which contains substantially all the copper in
the entire mass, with the gold and silver. The concentrated
matte is still farther concentrated by a second smelting to
black copper, which in turn is treated by electrolysis for its
gold and silver, and the copper separated in the form of pure
cathode copper.*
THE HUNT AND DOUGLAS (OLD) METHOD.
The ores, after pulverization and roasting, were treated
with chloride of iron to dissolve the copper, which in turn
as cement copper was precipitated from the solution by scrap
iron. The residues were either amalgamated or smelted
for the gold contents. The products of the mine were ingot
copper and bar gold.
A EEW METHODS DEEY CLASSIFICATION.
The methods which have survived are the older forms of
amalgamation chiefly by stamp battery, followed by belt and
other concentration, roasting and chlorination, and in an-
other line by the copper matte smelting process.
THE UNITED STATES BRANCH MINT IN CHARLOTTE.
This mint, a branch of the United States mint at Phila-
delphia, was established by act of March 3, 1835, and by the
same act the branch mint at Dahlonega, Ga., and at New
Orleans, La. Fifty thousand dollars was appropriated for
the Charlotte mint.
Eight lots were purchased on November 25, 1835, by
Samuel McCombs, agent and commissioner for the United
*Note. — Copper matte smelting, except in its preliminary stages,
has not been carried on in Mecklenburg county; neither has the
Hunt and Douglas method in its entirety.
128 History ox* Mecklenburg County.
States, cm Trade street, for $1,500, viz., lots No. 135, [36,
[33, [65, 166, 167, 168, and 144.
This legislation by Congress grew out of a long continued
agitation on the part of the miners of Anson (and Union),
Cabarrus. Rutherford, Davidson, Mecklenburg, and other
counties of North and South Carolina, commencing
very early after the discovery of gold. In 1830, the de-
mands had grown sufficiently loud to lead the General As-
sembly of North Carolina to appoint a special committee to
investigate the subject under the chairmanship of Gideon
Glenn. This report, among other matters, stated that the
production of North Carolina was $500,000 annually, at
a cost estimated at $150,000. The main conclusion of the
report was the propriety of erecting a mint. The disad-
vantage was for the time obviated by the coinage of $5.00,
$2.50 and $1.00 pieces by the Bechtlers at Rutherfordton.
The Charlotte mint was opened for business Deceml>er
4. 1837. and had for that time a large business immediately.
The first depositor was Irwin & Elms.
On July 27, 1844. the mint was burned at mid-day, proba-
bly from the carelessness of a tinner repairing the roof.
The question of its re-erection was at once sprung, and
was opposed in Congress, and strangely by many people of
this secti< n.
The extent of the damage is indicated by the following
extract from a letter of the Director of the Mint at Philadel-
phia to the Secretary of the Treasury of date of December
14, 184.1 '■
"Of the main building it may be assumed that there is
nothing left which can lie made available, except a portion
of the material, and perhaps of the old foundation. The out-
buildings are all saved. In the department of the superin-
tendent and treasurer, the coin, bullion, scale beams, furni-
ture, books and papers were saved. In the assay room and
in the melting room, but little damage was done. In the
separating room the destruction was more considerable: but
all the li sses \ the apparatus and material can be replaced
HISTORY OF MINING IN MECKLENBURG. 1 29
without resort to any new appropriation. In the coiner's
department the steam engine was slightly injured. . . .
The draw-bench is so much injured that it will be expedient
to replace it. . . . Of the cutting presses, one can be
repaired, but the other must be replaced. The coining
presses are past repair. The milling machine and the rolls
are destroyed."
The report recommended the expenditure of $25,000' for
a new building, and $10,000 for machinery.
The Hon. D. M. Barringer, who represented this district
in Congress in 1844-5, writing in 1875, says: "I succeeded
in getting an appropriation to rebuild it. You
will find a full report ... in the Congressional Globe,
pages 223, 224, 225, February 21, 1845, second session 28th
Congress."
A commendatory local in the Jeffersonian April 1, 1845,
has the following: "The Superintendent of our mint (Hon.
Green W. Caldwell) is. a great fellow — a real business man.
He received on this day week from the Director of the Mint
his instructions for putting up a new building, and on Mon-
day after he made a contract for the whole job at a less cost
than the Government appropriated. Our enterprising fellow
townsman, H. C. Owens, Esq., took the contract for
$20,000, the building to be completed by the 1st of January,
next."
The important officials of the institution were :
Col. John H. Wheeler, appointed Superintendent in 1837;
Col. Burgess S. Gaither, appointed Superintendent in 1841 ;
Hon. Green Washington Caldwell, appointed Superintend-
ent in 1844, resigned in 1846 and went with the volunteer
forces to Mexico; Hon. William Julius Alexander, ap-
pointed Superintendent in 1846; Hon. Jas. W. Osborne, ap-
pointed superintendent in 1849; Col. Green Washington
Caldwell, appointed Superintendent in 1853; Dr. Isaac W.
Jones, appointed Assayer in Charge in 1867: Hon. Calvin J.
Cowles, appointed Assayer in Charge in 1869; Col. Robt. P.
Waring, appointed Assayer in Charge in 1885; Prof. Stuart
130 HISTORY ()!■' MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
\\ . Cramer, appointed Assayer in Charge in 1889; Captain
\\ . K. Ardrey, appointed Assayer in Charge in 1893; Hon.
\\ . S. Clanton, appointed Assayer in Charge in 1897; D.
Kirby Tope. Esq., appointed Assayer in charge in 1903.
Dr. John H. Gibbon was Assayer during the whole period
preceding the war. and W. I;. Strange Clerk. Other impor-
tant officials were: Edward Terres, John R. Bolton, Em-
mor Graham, John Rigler, A. X. Cray. Andrew Erwin,
Thomas H. Harmer. Frederick Eckfeldt, George B. Hanna,
W. I). Cowles, Josiah D. Cowles, W. C. Wilkinson, l\"bert
i '. Chapman.
( operations by the United States were practically termi-
nated May 21, 1 861, when the State, which had seceded
the 20th, occupied the building with its troops. Subse-
quently it was used by the Confederate authorities, espe-
cially by the navy office, till the termination of hostilities,
when it was seized by the Federal authorities and used by
the military officials till the summer of 1867. It was then
opened as an assay office, and has so continued till the pres-
ent time, with a brief interruption from July I, 1875. to
October 16, 1876.
The selection of Charlotte as the mint centre of this sec-
tion has been abundantly justified, and no better point could
have been indicated to accommodate the mining and com-
mercial interests of this region; it draws its patronage most
largely from the South Appalachian slope, from Maryland
to Alabama, but also in a lesser degree from twenty-one
other States, Territories and foreign countries.
Its business during the calendar year 1902 was, at coin-
ing rates, $288,985.87.
The total coinage at the Charlotte mint from its organiza-
tion in 1838, to its suspension in 1861, was $5,059,188.00.
all in gold, viz., half eagles, quarter eagles, and dollars. The
coins were discriminated by the letter "C."
The following1 table is official :
HISTORY OF MINING IN MECKLENBURG.
131
[.Coinage of the Mint at Charlotte, N. C, from its Organization, 1838,
to its Suspension, 1861.]
Calendar Year.
GOLD.
Half
Eagles.
Quarter
Eagles.
Dollars.
1838
$ 64,565
117,335
95,140
107,555
137,400
221,765
118,155
$19,770 00
45,432 50
32,095 00
25,742 50
16,842 50
65,240 00
29,055 00
$ 84,335 00
162 767 50
1839
1840
127,235 00
133,297 50
154,242 50
1841
1842
1843
287 005 00
1844*
147,210 00
1845
1846
64,975
420,755
322,360
324,115
317,955
245,880
362,870
327,855
196,455
198,940
142,285
156,800
194,280
159,235
74,065
34,395
12,020 00
58,065 00
41,970 00
25,550 00
22,870 00
37,307 50
24,430 00
18,237 50
9,192 50
19,782 50
76,995 00
478,820 00
364,330 00
361,299 00
347,791 00
324,454 50
396,734 00
339,370 00
214,696 50
217,935 50
162,067 50
170,080 00
216,920 00
164,470 00
92,737 50
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
$11,634
6,966
41,267
9,434
11,515
4
9,803
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
13,280
1858
22,640 00
18,672 50
1859
1860
5,235
1861
34,395 00
Total
4,405,135
544,915 00
109,138
5,059,188 00
*Mint burned July 27, 1844.
The total deposits at the Charlotte office from its organi-
zation to December 31, 1902, amounted to $10,163,666.54,
of which possibly $60,000.00 may have been silver con-
tained in the native gold.
George B. HannA.
1 32 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
CHAPTER XII.
MECKLENBURG COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES.
Complete List of the Members of the General Assembly From This
County From 1764 to 1903.— Martin Phifer and Richard Barry
Were the First.
Year. Senator. Representative.
1764 Martin Phifer, Richard Barry.
1765 Martin Phifer, Richard Barry.
1766 Martin Phifer, Thomas Polk.
1767 Martin Phifer, Thomas Polk.
1768 Martin Phifer, Thomas Polk.
1769 Thomas Polk, Abraham Alexander.
1770 Thomas Polk, Abraham Alexander.
1771 Thomas Polk, Abraham Alexander.
1772 Martin Phifer, John jJavidson.
1773 Martin Phifer, John Davidson.
1774 Thomas Polk, John Davidson.
1775 Thomas Polk, John Phifer, John Mc-
Knitt Alexander, Samuel iviartin,
Waighi-still Avery, James Houston.
John Phifer, Robert Irwin, John Mc-
1776 Knitt Alexander.
1777.. Jno. McKnitt Alexander. Martin Phifer, Waightstill Avery.
1778. .Robert Irwin Caleb Phifer, David Wilson.
1779. .Robert Irwin Caleb Phifer, David Wilson.
1780. .Robert Irwin Caleb Phifer, David Wilson.
1781. .Robert Irwin Caleb Phifer, David Wilson.
1782. .Robert Irwin Caleb Phifer, David Wilson.
1783. .Robert Irwin Caleb Phifer, David Wilson.
1784. .James Harris Caleb Phifer, David Wilson.
1785. .James Harris Caleb Phifer, George Alexander.
1786. .James Mitchell Caleb Phifer, George Alexander.
1787. .Robert Irwin Caleb Phifer, William PolK.
1788.. Joseph Graham Caleb Phifer, Joseph Douglas.
1789. .Joseph Graham. . ." Caleb Phifer, George Alexander.
1790. .Joseph Graham Robert Irwin, William Polk.
1791. .Joseph Graham Caleb Phifer, William Polk.
1792. .Joseph Graham Caleb Phifer, James Harris.
1793. .Joseph Graham Charles Polk, George Graham.
1794. .Joseph Graham Charles Polk, George Graham.
1795. .Robert Irwin Charles Polk, George Graham.
1796. .George Graham David McKee, William Morrison.
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REVOLUTIONARY STATE MONEY.
MECKLENBURG COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES. 1 33
1797. .Robert Irwin James Connor, Nathaniel Alexander.
1798. .Robert Irwin James Connor, Hugh Parker.
1799. .Robert Irwin James Connor, Sherrod Gray.
1800. .Robert Irwin Charles Polk, Hugh Parker.
1801. .Nathaniel Alexander. .. Charles Polk, Alexander Morrison.
1802. .Nathaniel Alexander.. Thos. Henderson, Alexander Morrison.
1803. .George Graham Thos. Henderson, Alexander Morrison.
1804.. George Graham Thos. Henderson, Samuel Lowrie.
1805.. George Graham Geo. W. Smart, Samuel Lowrie.
1806.. George Graham Thomas Henderson, Samuel Lowriee.
1807. .George Graham Thomas Henderson, John Harris.
1808. .George Graham Geo. W. Smart. John Harris.
1809. .George Graham Thos. Henderson, Hutchins G. Burton.
1810. .George Graham Thos. Henderson, Hutchins G. Burton.
1811.. George Graham Jonathan Harris, Henry Massey.
1812.. George Graham Jonathan Harris, Henry Massey.
1813. .William Davidson Jonathan Harris, Cunningham Harris.
1814. .Jonathan Harris William Beattie, George Hampton.
1815. .William Davidson John Ray, Abdon Alexander.
1816. .William Davidson Joab Alexander, John Wilson.
1817. .\viliiam Davidson John Rea, John Wilson.
1818. .William L. Davidson. .John Rea, John Wilson.
1819.. Michael McLeary John Rea, Miles J. Robinson.
1820. .Michael McLeary John Rea, Miles J. Robinson.
1821.. Michael McLeary John Rea, Samuel M.^Combs.
1822. .Michael McLeary John Rea, Matthew Baine.
1823.. Michael McLeary Thomas G. Polk, Matthew Baine.
1824.. Michael McLeary Thomas G. Polk, Matthew Baine.
1825.. William Davidson Thomas G. Polk, Matthew Baine.
1826. .Michael McLeary William J. Alexander, Matthew Baine.
1827. .William Davidson Wm. J. Alexander, Joseph Blackwood.
1828. .William Davidson Wm. J. Alexander, Joseph Blackwood.
1829.. William Davidson Wm. J. Alexander, Evan Alexander.
1830.. Joseph Blackwood Wm. J. Alexander, Evan Alexander.
1831. .Henry Massey James Dougherty, John Harte.
1832.. Henry Massey James Dougherty, John Harte.
1833. .Washington Morrison. Wm. J. Alexander, Andrew Grier.
1834.. William H. McLeary.. Wm. J. Alexander, J. M. Hutchison.
1835. .Stephen Fox J. A. Dunn, J. M. Hutchison.
1836.. Stephen Pox G. W. Caldwell, J. A. Dunn, J. M.
Hutchison.
1838. .Stephen Fox G. Vv. Caldwell, Jas. T. J. Orr, Caleb
Irwin.
1840.. J. T. J. Orr G. W. Caldwell, John Walker, Benja-
min Morrow.
134
hiSToRY (>I- MIX'KI.ENBURG COUNTY
1842.
1844.
1846.
184S.
1850.
1852.
1854.
1856.
1858.
1860.
1862.
1864.
1866.
1868.
1870.
1872.
1873.
1874.
1875.
1877.
1879.
1881.
1883.
1885.
1887.
1889.
1891.
1893.
1895,
1897.
1899.
1901.
.John Walker John Kirk. Jas. W. Ross, Caleb Irwin.
.John Walker John Kirk, J. A. Dunn, Robt. Lem-
mons.
John Walker John W. Potts, John N. Davis, Robt.
Lemmons.
.John Walker J. K. Harrison, J. N. Davis, J. J. Wil-
liams.
.Green W. Caldwell J. K. narrison, E. C. Davidson. J. J.
Williams.
.Green W. Caldwell W. Black, J. A. Dunn. J. Ingram.
.John Walker w. Black, w. R. Myers.
. W. R. Myers \Y. Matthews. W. F. Davidson.
. \V. F. Davidson
.John Walter. .
.John A. Young
.W. M. Grier.. .
.J. H. Wilson. .
.Jas. W. Osborne
.H. C. Jones. . .
.R. P. Waring.
.R. P. Waring. .
.R. P. Waring. .
.R. P. Waring.
.T. J. Moore...
.S. B. Alexander
.A. Burwell
.S. B. Alexander
• •H. M. Pritchard, W. Wallace.
• • -S. W. Davis, J. M. Potts.
• • J. L. Brown, E. C. Grier.
• J. L. Brown, E. C. Grier.
• • -R. D. Whitley, J. M. Hutchison
• R. D. Whitley, W. M. Grier.
• • -R. P. Waring, J. W. Reid.
• • John E. Brown, S. W. Reid.
• • -John E. Brown, S. W. Reid.
• • John E. Brown, S. W. Reid.
• -J. L. Jetton, J. W. Reid.
• • R. A. Shotwell, W. E. Ardrey.
• • -J. L. Brown, W. E. Ardrey.
• • -A. G. Neal, E. H. Walker.
• J. S. Myers, T. T. Sandifer, W. H.
Bailey.
.S. B. Alexander r. p. Waring. W. E. Ardrey, H. D.
Stowe.
.S. B. Alexander j. t. Kell, E. K. P. Osborne, J. W.
Moore.
•J- S. Reid n. Gibbon, J. W. Hood, J. C. Long.
.W. E. Ardrey r. a. Grier, J. W. Hood, W. D. Mayes.
.F. B. McDowell j. r. Erwin, H. W. Harris, J. L. Jetton.
.W. C. Dowd j. t. Kell, J. D. McCall. J. G. Alexan-
der.
.J. B. Alexander M. B. Williamson. W. S. Clanton. W.
P. Craven.
.F. I. Osborne Heriot Clarkson, R. M. Ransom, J. E.
Henderson.
.S. B. Alexander C. H. Duls, W. E. Ararey, F. M. Shan-
nonhouse.
1903.. H. N. Pharr.
. . . H. Q. Alexander, Thomas O. Gluyas,
3.. C. Freeman.
CHAPTER XIII.
MECKLENBURG TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812.
Five Companies Sent From This County to the War with England
Caused by the Searching of American Vessels for British Sail-
ors.—A Total of Four Hundred and Thirty-three Enlisted Men.*
SEVENTH COMPANY, DETACHED FROM THE FIRST MECK-
LENBURG REGIMENT, APRIL, 1812.
Joseph Douglass, Captain.
William M. Kary, Lieutenant.
Hamilton Brevard, First Sergeant.
David Gibony, Second Sergeant.
Samuel Brown, Third Sergeant.
William M. Barrett, Fourth Sergeant.
Thomas Allen, First Corporal.
John Solon, Second Corporal.
Isaac V. Pitt, Third Corporal.
R. Duckword, Fourth Corporal. .
Harrison, Adam.
Wiley, Hugh.
Moore, James.
Caldwell, John.
Love, Joseph.
Bingham, Joseph.
Gregg, Hugh.
Hood, Junius.
Alexander, David.
Parker, James.
Wallace, Matthew.
McRae, Thomas.
Phillips, John.
Farr, Henry.
Todd, Hugh.
Elliott, Hugh.
Jimison, Arthur.
Parish, Nicholas.
Walker, Andrew.
Roden, Upton.
Wilson, David B.
Beaty, Isaac.
Sharply, William.
Erwin, Francis.
Mason, Richard.
Darnell, John L.
Hutchison, Samuel J.
Hutchison, James.
Darnell, John.
Moore, Alexander.
Darnell, William.
Cunningham, Jacob I.
Alexander, Eli.
Lucas, Allen.
Graham, Samuel.
Shepherd, Thomas.
Fat, John.
Washam, Alexander.
Sullivan, William.
Henderson, David.
*From the Roster published by the State in 1837.
136
HISTORY OF MICCKLENBURG COUNTY.
Robertson, Will.
Solomon, Drury.
Mclie, Thomas.
Munteeth, William.
Alexander, Palau.
Elliott, John B.
Camerson, William.
Clark, Josnua.
McLure, John.
Thompson, Benjamin.
Smitn, Alexander.
Darnel, David.
Harris, Hugh.
Johnston, Mitchell.
Downy, William.
Bushbey, Will.
Sloan, Allen.
Lane, undrew M.
Weir, Howard.
Ferret, John, Sr.
Garretson, Arthur.
Simmimer, James.
Holmes, Hugh.
Stevenson, Hugh.
Scott, Will.
Total, 76.
EIGHTH COMPANY, DETACHED FROM THE SECOND MECK-
LENBURG REGIMENT, APRIL, 1812.
Robert Wood, Captain.
Jacob Shaver, Lieutenant.
Peter Mape, Second Lieutenant.
John Wilson, Ensign.
William Flenigan, First Sergeant.
John Hooker, Second Sergeant.
John Barnes, Third Sergeant.
James Watson, Fourth Sergeant.
John Hummons, First Corporal.
Obed Dafter, Second Corporal.
Will John, Third Corporal.
Charles Hart, Fourth Corporal.
Allen Stewart, Drummer.
John Rice, Fifer.
Bambow, Paten.
Purvins, Antheris.
Crowell, Charles.
Lemmond, William L.
Starns, Jacob.
McLoyd, Daniel.
Walker, James.
Brown, John.
Flenigan, Robert.
Sharp, William.
Flenigan, Elias.
Cheek, Randolph.
Flenigan, Samuel E.
McCallok, Elias.
Stewart, Andrew.
Wiley, Samuel.
John, Ash.
Sharp, Cunningham.
Wiat, John.
Black, John.
TOMB OF THOMAS POLK IN THE CHARLOTTE CEMETERY.
^ —
'&*&* ntd^j 5jj gg
RECEIPT, 1783.
MECKLENBURG TROOPS IN WAR OE l8l2.
137
Bryan, Joseph.
Clontz, Henry.
Cathberton, John.
Flow, John.
Boid, Robert.
McReley, Roderick.
Stunford, Moses.
Lancey, Charles.
None, John.
Prifly, Valentine.
Moser, Henry.
Robertson, James.
Yandles, Jesse.
Henley, Thomas.
Fobes, John.
Howard, Lewis.
Irvey, Will U.
Long, John.
Givens, Samuel.
Shannon, Robert.
Morris, Solomon.
Pool, William.
Broom, Allen.
Belk, Brelon.
Holden, Samuel.
Flenigan, Michael.
Coughran, Eli.
Redford, William.
Rea, Will.
Ormond, Samuel.
Ormand, Adam.
McCorkle, John.
Thompson, James.
Miller, Thomas.
Martin, William.
Pirant, William.
Barns, William.
Total, 71.
NINTH COMPANY, DETACHED FROM THE SECOND MECKLEN-
BURG REGIMENT, APRIL, 1812.
OFFICERS.
John Garretson, Captain.
Isaac Wiley, Lieutenant.
Natheil Sims, Ensign.
Archibald Sawyer, First Sergeant.
Ira B. Dixon, Second Sergeant.
William Smith, Third Sergeant.
Joro Kimmons, Fourth Sergeant.
William Mays, First Corporal.
John Holbrooks, Second Corporal.
Frederick Kiser, Third Corporal.
A. M. Grady, Fourth Corporal.
George Kenty, Drummer.
John Jaccour, Fifer.
Irwin, John.
Harris, Samuel H.
Ross, James.
Harris, Houston.
Alexander, John.
Harris, Isaac.
Alexander, Laid.
Carrigan, Robert, Sr.
Carrigan, Robert, Jr.
Gaylor, Theophilus.
138
HISTORY OK MECKLENBURG COU.NTY.
Carroll, John.
Hamilton, Joseph.
Houston, David.
Neele, Andrew.
Neele, James.
Flemming, George.
Icehour, Martin.
Dove, George.
Smith, William.
Linker, George.
Smith, Daniel.
Barnhardt, John
Fink, Son.
Carriher, Andrew.
Fink. Philip.
Taylous, John S.
Johnston, John.
Campbell, Cyrus.
Cochran, Robert M.
Morrison, John.
Morrison, Robert C.
McCain, Hugh.
Bost, Daniel
House, Jacob.
Miller, Henry.
Rinehart, Jacob.
Rowe, Henry.
Bost, Matthias.
Owrey, Michael.
Light, John.
Goodnight, John.
Freeze, Adam.
Freeland, John.
Clisk, John.
Chaple, Jesse.
Sneed, Reuben.
Johnston. Rufus.
Black, David II
Black, John.
Biggers, Johnston N.
Newitt, William.
Right, George.
Gilmore, Josiah.
Martin, Edward.
Kelly, William.
Wines, William.
Keelough, Ebenezer.
Hall, James.
Gaugus, Jacob.
Goouman. John.
Walter, Charles.
McGraw, James.
Luther, Daniel.
Shank, Martin.
Simmon, Jacob.
Total, 78.
MECKLENBURG FIRST REGIMENT, DETACHED TROOPS,
AUGUST, 1814.
James Wilson, Captain.
Thomas Boyd, Esq., First Lieutenant.
Joseph Blackwood, Second Lieutenant.
Isaac Price, Third Lieutenant.
Charles Hutchinson, Ensign.
Caldwell, Robert.
Caldwell, Robert, Ja.
Carson, William.
Wynens, John.
Garner, Barzilla.
McCombs, James.
Barnett, John.
McKelvia, William.
Hawkins, John.
Barnett, Amos.
MECKLENBURG TROOPS IN WAR OF l8l2.
139
Alexander, Ezekiel.
Shelvey, William.
Garrison, John C.
Means, James.
Hope, Thomas.
Price, John.
Parks, John, Sr.
Johnston, Samuel, Jr.
Parrish, Andrew M.
Dunn, William.
Lewing, Andrew, Jr.
Perry, Francis.
Farra, John.
Lewing, John.
Carothers, James.
Dinkins, James.
Bigham, Rooert, Jr.
Johnston, John.
Johnston, William.
Neeley, Samuel.
Reed, David.
Whiteside, Joseph.
Miles, Augustus.
West, Matthew.
Connell, Thomas.
Benhill, William.
McKnight, Robert.
Baker, Michael.
Baker, Abel.
McDowell, Hugh.
Wolles, William, Jr.
Wallis, Matthew, Jr.
Parks, Samuel.
Wynns, Ann.
Sadler, John.
Barnhill, John.
Julin, Jacob.
Henderson, uames.
McCracken, Elisha.
Love, Christopher.
Dunn, Robert, Jr.
Brown, john.
Norman, William o.
Baxter, Daniel.
Wilson, Benjamin.
Elliott, Thomas.
Conner, James.
Davis, Daniel.
Elliott, William.
Hartley, Richard.
Duckworth, George.
Meek, James.
Alexander, James.
Jones, Joel.
Morrison, Isaac, Jr.
Sloan, James.
Parker, John.
VVilliams, Joseph.
Menteith, James.
Prim, Andrew.
Kerr, William.
Hawkins, John.
Baker, Aaron.
Walker, Andrew.
Porter, James.
Beaty, John.
Bigham, Samuel.
Pelt, Simon V.
Beaty, John.
Jackson, Peavon.
Blackburn, John.
Wilson, John, Jr.
Osborne, Robert A.
White, John.
Channels, Michael.
Ferrel, Gabriel.
Irwin, Giles.
Ferrel, John.
Wallis, Joseph.
Hunter, Henry, Jr.
Ferrel, William.
Steele, James.
Gray, Nelson.
Steele, John.
Montgomery, Robert.
Brady, James A.
Peoples, Richard.
McKellerand, Joseph.
Alexander, John D.
Goforth, George.
Total, 105.
140
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUXTV.
MECKLENBURG SECOND REGIMENT, DETACHED TROOPS.
AUGUST, 1814.
01 I HERS.
David Moore, Captain.
John Wilson, First Lieutenant.
Solomon Reed, Second Lieutenant.
William John, Third Lieutenant.
Alhertes Alexander, Ensign.
Barfleet, Richard.
McCall, Matthew.
McCall, James.
Thompson, Henry.
Stewart, Alexander.
Cheery, "William.
Robertson, James.
Yaudles, Samuel.
Harbeson, James.
Starns, Nathaniel.
Shehorn, Morris.
Yerby, William.
Rone, James.
Belk, John.
Rich, Daniel.
Downs, William.
Shelby, William.
Freeman, Gideon.
Morrison, John.
Allen, John.
Forsythe, John.
Barnes, James.
Purser, Moses.
Barns, Micajah.
Wilkinson, Osborne.
Allen, Robert.
Vinson, Groves.
Helms, William.
Helms, Charles.
Starns, Frederic.
Spravey, Benjamin.
Reed, Joseph.
Kerr, Adam.
Matthews, John.
Parke, George.
Junderbusk, John.
Flowers, Henry.
Yaudles, David B.
Alexander, Salamachus.
Alexander, Abdon.
Smart, Osborn.
Smart, iilisha.
McCullock, John.
Cook, Robert.
Hanson, Stephen.
Craig, Moses.
McCoy, William.
Howood, Robert.
Woodall, William.
Gray, Jacob.
Howie, Aaron.
King, Andrew.
Finsher, Joshua.
Rape, Samuel.
Rener, Samuel.
Hambleton, James.
Vick, Moses.
Phillips, John.
Train, James.
Berns, George.
Fisher, William.
Button, Daniel.
McAlroy, Hugh.
Ivey, Jess.
Hauley, John.
Story, David W.
Fuller, John.
Shaw, James.
Reed, William.
Taylor, Wilson.
Maglauchlin, John.
Maygeehee, William.
Hall, Joseph.
Hargett, Henry.
BILL OF ACCOUNT, 1767.
MECKLENBURG TROOPS IN WAR OF l8l2.
141
Hargett, William.
Helmer, Joel.
Crowell, John.
Chainey, Peter.
Harkey, David.
Tutor, George.
Stilwell, Elias.
Morrison, James.
Tomberlin, Moses.
Reak, Edward.
Morrison, Neel.
Costley, James.
Cochran, Thomas S.
Houston, William, Jr.
Cochran, Robert.
Wilson, Hugh.
Hood, Reuben.
Dennis, Charles.
Neele, Samuel.
Harkey, John.
Rogers, James.
Harrison, Robert.
Hodge, John.
Lambert, Richard.
Webb, Lewis.
Story, James, Sr.
Total, 103.
Grand total, 433.
CHAPTER XIV.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
Roster of Officers and Men of the Twenty-one Companies Sent From
This County.— 2,735 Soldiers and only 2,021 Voters.— Number
Killed, Wounded or Died.* — List of Promotions.
♦Abbreviations: W, wounded; K, killed; D, died; W. C, wounded
and captured; P, promoted.
COMPANY B (HORNETS' NEST RIFLES), FIRST (OR BETHEL)
REGIMENT.
(Enlisted in April, 1861, for Six Months.)
L. S. Williams, Captain, commissioned April 18, 1861, Mecklenburg
County.
W. A. Owens, Captain, P.
W. A. Owens, First Lieutenant, commissioned April 18, 1861,
Mecklenburg County; promoted Major of Thirty-fourth Regiment, k.
Robt. Price, First Lieutenant.
W. P. Hill, Second Lieutenant.
T. D. Gillespie, Third Lieutenant.
XOX-COMMISSIOXED OFFICERS.
T. D. Gillespie, First Sergeant.
J. H. Wyatt, Second Sergeant.
J. B. French, Fourth Sergeant.
R. B. Davis, First Corporal.
J. J. Alexander, Second Corporal.
W. M. Mattheus, Jr., Third Corporal.
A. M. Rhym, Fourth Corporal.
Phillips, First Sergeant.
Black Davis, Corporal.
Julius Alexander, Sergeant.
Minor Sadler, Druggist.
Anderson, C. Alexander, F. T.
Alexander, J. L. Barnett, William.
Alexander, M. E. Bond, Newton.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
143
Boone, J. B. T.
Black, Josiah.
Bourdeaux, A. J.
Biggart, W. S.
Crawford, R. R.
Crowell, E. M.
Caldwell, R. B.
Caldwell, J. E.
Cannedy, Robt.
Davis, J. G. A.
Davis, R. A. G.
Davidson, J. F.
Dorsett, J. P.
Dyer, W. G.
Eagle, A.
Eagle, John.
Frazier, M. L.
Frazier, John.
Fredrick, J. R.
Fullenweider, H.
Fanygen, M. L.
Gray, H. N.
Gray, R. F.
Grier, S. A.
Graham, S. R.
Gillett, J. H.
Griffin, J. H.
Hunter, J. H.
Hollingsworth, B.
Harris, W. L.
Howell, S. A.
Hilton, S. H.
Henderson, W. M.
Howell, E. M.
Jacobs, G. W.
Jones, Milton.
Jaswa, L. R.
Kesiah, Wm.
Kerr, Wm. J.
Dandier, Orminer.
Dee, J. M.
McGinnis, R. C.
Dowrie, J. B., k. at Gettysburg.
Dowrie, J. B., k.
Muny, T. N.
McDonald, Allen.
McCorkle, R. B.
Moseley, M.
Means, W. N. M.
Meholers, John.
Nichols, J. S.
Norment, A. A.
Oates, Jas. H
Oates, Coowy.
Orr, S. H.
Price, R. S.
Phifer, R.
Paredoe, S. M.
Potts, J. W.
Price, Joseph.
Phelps, H. M.
Query, R. W.
Rose, W. C.
Rieler, G. H.
Rea, W. P.
Rozzell, W. F.
Squires, J. B.
Stowe, John.
Sharpe, R. A.
Shaw, D. W. A.
Sadler, Julius.
Smith, J. Perry.
Steel, M. D.
Sheppard, J. W.
Taylor, J. W.
Torrence, George.
Tovam, William.
Tiddy, J. F.
Tiddy, R. A.
Tate, A. H.
Thompson, R.
Vagorer, J. V.
Winale, M. F.
Wiley, W. J.
Williams, W. S.
Williamson, J. W.
Tate. Henry.
Total, 108.
J 44
lilSTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
CHARLOTTE GRAYS, COMPANY C, FIRST (OR BETHEL) REG-
IMENT.
(Enlisted ir. April, 1861.)
E. A. Ross, Captain; Promoted Major of Eleventh North Carolina.
E. B. Cohen, First Lieutenant.
T. B. Trotter, Second Lieutenant.
C. W. Alexander, Second Lieutenant.
C. R. Staley, Orderly Sergeant.
J. P. Elms, Second Sergeant; Promoted Lieutenant Thirty-seventh
North Carolina.
J. G. McCorkle, Third Lieutenant.
W. G. Berryhill, Fourth Lieutenant.
D. L. Bringle, Fifth or Ensign.
W. D. Elms, First Corporal; Promoted Captain Thirty-seventh
North Carolina.
W. B. Taylor, Second Corporal; Promoted Second Lieutenant Com-
pany A, Eleventh North Carolina.
Henry Terris, Third Corporal.
George Wolfe, Fourth Corporal.
Dr. J. B. Boyd, Surgeon.
M. R. Alexander.
T. A. Alexander.
Lindsey Adams.
J. P. Ardery, P. Capt. 49th N. C.
W. E. Ardrey, P. Capt, 30th N. C.
A. H. Brown.
Wm. Brown.
Wm. J. Brown.
Ed. F. Britton
L. Behrends.
Wm. Calder.
J. W. Cathey.
S. P. Caldwell.
J. F. Crawson.
T. B. Cowan.
T. J. Camphell.
J. W. Clendennen.
J. F. Collins.
T. G. Davis.
J. T. Downs, P. Lieut, 30th N. C.
L. W. Downs.
J. P. A. Davidson.
J. R. Dunn.
I. S. A. Frazier.
James Flore.
R. H. Flow.
J. A. Elliott.
S. H. Elliott.
J. A. Ezzell.
M. F. Ezzell.
J. M. Earnheardt.
J. Engel.
R. H. Grier, f. Lieut, 49th N. C.
J. C. Grier, P. Capt, 49th N. C.
J. M. Grier.
D. P. Glenn.
J. R. Gribble.
J. A. Gibson.
N. Gray.
R. L. Gillespie.
vz*
_— — ■* — /? r y
2&
^M
/3fr#a-T7££^ cCu*-' - — » X*
o
$ft
BILL FOR SUBSCRIPTION, 1792.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
145
D. W. Hall.
J. C. Hill.
W. J. Hill.
H. H. Hill.
W. Lee Hand. P. Capt. A,
Robt. H. Hand, P. Lieut. A
R. H. Howard.
Thomas Howard.
Jas. M. Hutchison.
Cynes N. Hutchison.
Tom F. Holton.
Tom M. Harkey.
S. Hymans.
Harper C. Houston.
T. Lindsey Holmes.
Jas. T. Haskell.
W. T. Hanser.
George T. Herron.
Geo. W. Howey.
Jacob Harkey.
L. P. Henderson.
Jack R. Isreal.
Wm. S. Icehower.
E. P. Ingold.
Robt. W. Johnston.
Jacob Katz.
Wm. H. Kistler.
Jack A. Kinsey.
J. H. Knox.
Robt. Keenan.
Louis Leon.
J. C. Levi.
Jacob Leopold.
Henry Moyle.
Thomas F. McGinn.
John McKinley.
Wm. McKeever.
D. Watt McDonald.
John H. McDonald.
Robt. J. Monteith.
Moses O. Monteith.
Sam'l J. McEiroy.
Jack Norment.
Isaac Norment.
Wm. B. Neal.
L. M. Neal.
S. R. Neal.
P. A. Neal.
Thos. W. Neely.
S. Oppenheim.
11th N. C. J. T. Orr.
, 11th N. C.John L. Osborne.
J. E. Orman.
Mack Pettus.
S. A. Phillips.
W. R. Carter.
R. A. Carter.
John G. Potts, P. Lieut., 49th Rgt.
Wm. M. Potts.
Lamson A. Potts, P. Capt., 37th N. C.
Calvin M. Query.
Theo. C. Ruddock.
J. R. Rea.
D. B. Rea.
Wm. D. Stone.
W. Steele.
Jim M. Stowe.
Wm. E. Sizer.
J. Monroe Sims, Q. M. Sergt., 11th
N. C.
Richard A. Springs.
C. Ed. Smith.
S. B. Smith.
M. H. Smith.
W. J. B. Smith.
W. H. Saville.
John W. Sample.
David I. Sample.
James M. Saville.
Robt. Frank Simpson.
S. E. Todd.
Wm. Todd.
John W. Treloar.
Hugh A. Tate.
Charles B. Watt.
B. Frank Watt.
C. C. Wingatc.
T. D. Wolf?.
T. J. Wolfe
John Wiley.
Total, 143.
I46 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
COMPANY C. FIRST REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
OFFICKRS.
J. M. Miller, Captain.
M. D. L. McLeod.
R. H. Maxwell, Lieutenant.
J. L. Morrow, Lieutenant, k.
W. B. Field, Lieutenant.
J. F. Johnson, Captain.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
M. Steel.
D. S. Hutchison.
J. P. Alexander.
P. C. Harkey.
J. M. Pugh.
R. H. Cambell.
D. K. Orr, w.
J. Lewellyn.
M. L. Davis.
J. B. Stearns.
J. W. Moore.
J. W. Kizziah.
W. T. Bishop.
Antrice, J. W.
Antrice, W. M., d.
Archey, J. W.
Anderson, L. D.
Ardrey, J. W.
Blake, S. N.
Barris, E. C
Burris, J. T.
Breflard, W. J.
Ballard, F. A.
Ballard, J. L.
Boyd, P. L.
Butler, J. T.
Black, T. N.
Barnett, T. F... k.
Calloway, J. C, d.
Cobble, J D.
Connor, T. A, 'I.
Cottraim, A. W.
Carroll, J. H.
Craig, M. F.
Cruse, M. C.
Ciump, R ':.
Cathey, J. V.
Davidson, V.. C
Dulin, J. M., 0.
Edleman, T. "i\
Edwards, A. J.
Edwards, E., k.
Efird, J. C.
Efird, J. E.
Finley, M. K., w.
Furr, John, d.
Flow, E.
Flow, J. M., w.
Fords, H. H.
Gillespie, S. A.
Gaisesen, W. G.
Graham, J. R.
Goodsen, H. M.
CIVII, WAR TROOPS.
147
Gillespie, A. M.
Hurston, A. W.
Harget, Harrison, d.
Hargett, H. M., d.
Hargett, Osborne.
Harkey, T. B., d.
Helms, J. xx.
Helms, J. W.
Helms, H. M., c.
Hopkins, P.
Hudson, J. H.
Holden, E. M., d.
Hilton, S. H.
Henderson, W. M. F.
Hunter, J. W., w.
Hartis, M. A.
Hartis, A. L.
Holbrook, A.
Johnson, W. P.
Jennings, 0. J.
Jordan, B. F.
King, R. R.
Lewis, C. J.
Lewis, J. M.
Morris, G. C.
Martin, Edward.
McCall, J. M.
McCarver, Jas.
McNeely, T. N., w.
McLeod, J. M., w.
McCall, J. A.
McGinnis, John.
McDoughall, M.
McCall, Wm.
McCarver, Alex.
Noles, A. T., d.
Noles, W. A.
Orr., J. A., k.
Orr, N. D., w.
Orr, J. J., k.
Parks, J. L., c.
Potts, T. E.
Potts, C. A.
Pholan, J.
Page, E. M.
Peacn, H.
Rea, J. M.
Rea, D. B.
Robson, Cr. M.
Reenhardt, J. F.
Rea, W. A.
Rea, R. R.
Rea, Robt.
Rea, J. L.
Sparrow, J. S.
Smith, J. W.
Stanis, J. B.
Schneider, G.
Sanders, W. H.
Starns, C. R., c.
Steele, W. G.
Stucker, Cnristian.
Tye, W. B., deserted.
Tomberlen, E. M., w.
Thompson, J. M., d.
Taylor, A. W.
Taylor, Art, deserted.
Taylor, J. C.
Taylor, J. A.
Taylor, J. M.
Tomiin, J.
Taylor, W. F.
Tredermick, W. S., k.
Tredermick, N. P.
Tredermick, J. R.
Thompson, R. G.
Underwood, S. M.
VanPelt, J. N.
Vance, J. C, d.
Ualle, P. O.
Watson, W. A.
White, J. S.
Wilson, John.
Williamson, J. A.
Werner, L.
Wallace, M. L„ k.
Williford, T. F.
Walker, J. B.
Wallace, Wm., k.
Williams, J. M.
148
HISTORY OF MECKI.KX1UKG COUNTY.
Yardle, J. B.
Whi taker, H. A., k.
Yardle, W. A.
Yardle, W. H. Total, 145; from other counties, 56;
8 wounded; killed, 9.
COMPANY D, SEVENTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
\V. L. Davidson, Captain.
T. J. Cahill, Captain.
Wm. J. Kerr, wounded 1862; killed 1863.
Tim P. Mollav.
Lieutenants: I. E. Brown, J. A. Torrance, B. H. Davidson, Thos
P. Mollay. P. J. Kirby.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Jas. M. McLure.
Paul James.
Al. LeLain.
W. G. W. Herbert.
W. Wedlock.
S. N. Jamison.
James Clark.
Thomas Bundle.
Alexander, Wm., d.
Anderson, Richard.
Ayers, A. G., k. '62.
Bynum, Rufus, d.
Buglin, Patrick.
Beard, J. H., d.
Bennett, G. W.
Bennett, J. G.
Berry. Jas.
Bolton, G. B.
Brannan, Patrick.
Brinkle. John, w.
Brinkle, Thomas.
Burnett, J. S., d. '62.
Brown, J. J., w. '63.
Billow, W. H., d. '62.
Brown, Alex.
Brown, Nicholas.
Donovan, Philip.
Donovan, Jeremiah.
Dasinger. Francis.
Dobson, Hiram.
Davidson, J. W.
Davidson, B. W.
k.
'63.
Elliott, Wm.
Elmore, J. T., d.
Eller, John.
Edmirton, J. R.,
Frick, Jacob.
Fogleman, P. L.
Gallagher. Arch., w.
Claywell, J. F., d. '62.
Carricker, Levi, d. '62.
Caskill, Tim. L.
Cable, Lewis.
Conder, Wiley, k.
Coll ng, John.
Chancy. John.
Calder, Wm., Sr.
Calder, Wm., Jr.
Cashion, W. M., w.
Cashion. Thomas, k.
Carter. F. B., d.
Gallagher. Jas.
Gleason, Jas. W.
Grady, Jas.
Griffin, Thomas.
Goodman, S. C.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
149
Graves, A. C.
Grant, R. W.
Hartsell, J. M., w.
Howell, Jas.
Howell, John.
Howell, David, w.
Harris, Francis, k.
Hicks, T. W., w.
Halshouser, A. R.
Hanna, J. M., d.
Humble, David.
Icenhour, P. E.
Jackson, John.
John, E. Edward, k.
Jones, David, k.
Jannison, R. J., w.
Johnson, Thomas.
Johnson, Rufus.
Jamison, S. N.
Kurtz, P. K.
Kelley, Lawrence, w.
Kanapum, A. E.
Kirby, Patrick, w.
Kisler, Wm.
Kennedy, Jepe.
Lane, A. D.
Mason, Wiley J.
McConnell, Thomas.
McClellan, W. A.
McGarar, Wm. W.
Meredith, Stephen W.
McGuire, John, k.
McGinnis, George.
Munsey, John.
Mulson, Robt.
McBean, John.
Mason, W. B.
McConnell, T. A., d.
McConnell, A. M.
Meredith, J.
Newton, Eli.
Newton, Meredith, d.
Newton, John, k.
Nail, Richmond, k.
Nantz, A. E.
Oliver, Calvin.
Plyler, R. C.
Packard, John.
Petit, Jas.
Patterson, J. E., k.
Quinn, Jas.
Rhodes, Wm.
Rafferty, Thos.
Rogers, Jas.
Rogers, J. C.
Reynolds, John.
Riddick, H. L.
Riddick, J. A.
Rolmer, W. C.
Riggins, Robt.
Sullivan, D. C.
Stephens, M.
Spears, Wm. H.
Stewart, Thos. A.
Sherrill, i«. J.
Seagraves, A C.
Sanders, G. W., k.
Sheridan, John, w.
Stanning, Wm.
Stroup, David, k.
Spawl, A. B.
Skinner, S. L.
Sullivan, D. C.
Staly, John.
Staly, W. Y.
Towey, Lewis.
Vincent, Jas. B.
Varker, Wm., w.
Vance, Richard.
Vaughn, H. J.
Weaver, Wm.
Wilson, Lewis.
Woodard, vv. L., d.
Williamson, D. J.
Whalon, Roderick, w.
Wilkerson, W.
Wilkerson, J. H.
Winecoff, J. T., k.
Washam, J. B., d.
Total, 154.
I=iO
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG CO! NTY
COMPANY C. TENTH REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY.
OFFICERS.
T. H. Brem, Captain.
James Graham, Captain.
A. B. Williams, Captain, w.
Adbon Alexander, Lieutenant, w.
T. L. Seigle, Lieutenant, w.
H. A. Albright, Lieutenant.
J. S. Davidson, Sergeant.
Dennis Collins, Sergeant.
J. L. Hoffman, Sergeant.
R. V. Gudger, Sergeant.
J. E. Albright, Sergeant.
R. P. Chapman, Sergeant, w.
J. P. Smith, Sergeant.
Moses Blackwelder, Corporal, d.
D. M. L. Faunt, Corporal.
Patrick Lyons, Corporal.
Mathero Chapman, Corporal.
M. A. Henderson, Corporal.
VV. W. Shelby, Corporal.
Wm. S. Williams, Corporal.
Dan W. McLean, Corporal.
J. N. Peoples, Sergeant, d.
James W. Murray, Bugler.
R. R. Peoples, Guidon.
Wm. H. Runfelt. '
Abernethy, Jas.
Abernethy, Clem H.
Baldwin, Alfred.
Beatty, Wm.
Beatty, J. W.
Bridgers, W. B.
Burus, Jas.
Brackett, Wm.
Broadway, Whitson.
Buff, Henry.
Baker, J. B.
Bray. Winfield M.
Cannon, Fred.
Cannon, Sid.
Cannon. Joseph, d.
Carroll, Francis, c.
Connell, S. C.
Chapman, A. H.
Chapman, Wm.
Chapman, Peter.
Chapman, A. J., d.
Costener, Jacob.
Carter, Jas.
Canips, John.
Canips, Henry.
Christenburg, A. B.,
Cannon, Wm. S., c.
Canster, Martin L.
Crane, Madison C.
Carter, Jas. N.
Culer, J. A. J.
Crane, Wm.
Cannell, Jas. H.
Chalkley, W. P.
Christenburg, A. B.,
Doyle, Bernard.
CIVIL, WAR TROOPS.
151
Dunlap, Sam'l N.
Dobbin, Mark H.
Ellington, Werley P.
Farley, A.
Fite, J. C.
Fite, Robt. D. R.
Fox, W. T.
Faunt, Sam'l.
Faunt, D. L.
Fancy, John.
Dawns, Robt. R., d.
Fullbright, J. K.
Fullbright, D. B., d.
Fullbright, M., k.
Fullbright, K.
Fite, Sam'l, d.
Flowers, Jessie, deserted.
Goodman, John.
Grigg, B. W.
Grier, W. M.
Grier, Marshal.
Grier, C. E.
Heavner, J. J.
Hoover, T. H.
Hoover, J. D.
Hoover, W. G.
Hoover, W. H.
Hoover, J. T.
Howell, Jas.
Hinkle, J. L.
Hawkins, J. A.
Hawkins, J. P.
Hawkins, Albert.
Herrvell, R.
Hoyle, D. R.
Hunter, R. B.
Johnson, Daniel.
Johnson, R. L.
Johnson, Joseph.
Jenkins, Aaron.
Jenkins, Tillman.
Jenkins, Sam'l.
Jenkins, Edward.
Kaloram, Thos.
Knuipe, Henry.
Kean, J. H.
Kean, J. B.
Kean, S. W.
Kean, R. F.
Lattimer, A. M.
Lane, J. D.
Laughlin, D. P.
Ledford, John.
Lindsey, W. G.
Lamb, Mike, deserted.
Lawler, John, deserted.
Lineberger, J. M.
Lawing, A. W.
Lawing, J. W.
Marrable, W. M.
Meaghim, W. H.
Marshal, Jas. H.
McCausland, W. B.
McCorkle, Robt.
McKinney, Sam'l.
Moad, John.
Murphy, Daniel C.
Motz, Mayfield.
Needham, Thos., d.
Morris, J. £>., w.
Newton, Robt.
Nantz, R. E.
Nantz, Calvin.
Nantz, R. R.
Potts, Wm. P.
Potts, Jas. A.
Potts, A. W.
Pool, A. W.
Pool, J. T.
Parker, Wm.
Queen, Joseph.
Queen, Laban.
Roberts, J. W.
Richard, J. W.
Rodden, T. B.
Scott, Nelson.
Seagle, G. W.
Shaw, J. G.
Shelby, J. M.
Shaw, Wm.
IM
HISTORY OF MKCKLEN'BL'RG COINTV.
Sloan, J. W.
Sloan, Sam'l, k.
Sloan, Robt., \v.
Sloan, Robt., d.
Smith, J. A.
Smith, Jacob.
Smith, George.
Smith, \V. M.
Stillwell, Jacob, k.
Stuly, J. J., c.
Stant, S. G.
Summerville, J. W.
Tallent, Daniel.
Terepaugh, J. H.
Todd, Wm.
Underwood, J. S.
Underwood, J. O.
I'mlerwood, Jas.
Underwood, Reuben.
Underwood, J. R.
Underwood, David.
Veno, Francis.
Watts, C. L.
Watts, Charles.
Walls, A. A.
White, D. W.
White, A. S.
West, Wm. F.
Will. John.
Total, 179.
COMPANY A, ELEVENTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
E. A. Ross, Captain; promoted Major, k.
W. L. Hand, First Lieutenant, w.
C. W. Alexander, Second Lieutenant, retired.
R. H. Hand, Lieutenant, w.
W. B. Taylor, Lieutenant, w.
J. G. McCorkle, Orderly Sergeant; promoted Lieutenant Com-
pany E.
S. J. McElroy, Sergeant, w.
R. B. Alexander, Sergeant, w.
J. M. Simms, Quartermaster Sergeant, c.
T. W. Neely, Sergeant, w.
T. C. Ruddock, Corporal, c.
W. S. Icehower, Corporal, k.
J. R. Gribble, Corporal, w.
E. Lewis, Corporal, w.
M. R. Alexander, w.
M. Mc. Alexander, k.
M. A. Alexander, k.
J. G. Alexander, k.
W. S. Alexander.
R. C. Alexander.
J. N. Alexander, w.
H. W. Allen, w.
C. A. Allen.
L. Allen.
P. S. Auten, k.
E. L. S. Barnett.
J. F. Barnett.
J. L. Barnett, k.
M. F. Blakely.
J. J. Blakely, k.
James Byrum.
C. C. Brigman, w.
J. M. Black.
T. J. Black, w.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
153
Ezekiel Black.
J. R. Bigham, w.
J. W. Bigham, w.
W. J. Brown, p. sergeant, w.
J. Creasman,
J. F. Cochrane.
M. E. Cheshire.
W. H. Campbell.
H. D. Duckworth, w.
J. A. Duckworth.
J. C. Deaton.
Daniel Dulin, w.
Jack Darnell, w.
J. H. Earnheardt, k.
J. M. Earnheardt, p. to d. s., w.
W. C. Earnheardt.
S. O. Earnheardt.
G. R. Ewing, w.
W. E. Ewing, w.
W. A. Elliott, k.
J. P. Elms, p. Lt, k.
R. H. Plow, w.
I. S. A. Frazier, w.
J. W. Fisher.
W. C. Ford.
J. S. Galloway, k.
W. W. Gray.
J. A. Gibson.
D. P. Glenn, w.
F. C. Glenn.
Joshua Glover, w.
R. A. Groves.
J. S. Garrison, k.
W. J. Goodrum, k.
C. H. Goodrum.
H. H. Hill, w.
Milton Hill.
Miles Hill, w.
Monroe Hovis, w.
A. J. Hand.
I. S. Henderson.
T. M. Henderson.
G. T. Herron, w.
J. H. Hutchison, k.
T. L. Holms, k.
T. H. Hunter.
D. P. Hunter.
M. B. Hunter.
J. M. Herron.
G. T. Hinson, k.
T. M. Howard.
W. C. Harris.
F. Hobbs, w.
N. O. Harris, w.
L. Hutspeth.
Alfred Johnston.
David Jenkins, w.
Jacob Jenkins.
J. D. Kerns.
Wm. Kennedy, w.
Thos. Knipper.
J. A. King.
C. C. King, w.
B. Kinney.
R. J. Monteith.
H. L. D. Monteith.
M. O. Monteith, k.
J. H. McConnell, w.
J. F. McConnell, k.
T. Y. McConnell.
J. H. McWhirter, w.
James McWhirter, k.
R. F. McGinn.
J. A. McCall, w.
J. H. Montgomery, p. Lt., w.
S. A. McGinnis, w.
Isaac Norment, w.
Jack Norment.
G. A. Neal, k.
A. H. Newell.
J. F. Orr.
N. C. N. Orr.
J. E. Orman.
Dan Powell, k.
H. M. Pettus.
J. W. Pettus.
Stephen Pettus.
C. Paysour, w.
Peter Paysour.
T. A. Prim., k.
54
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
R. L. Query.
S. F. Query.
B. W. Ruddock, w.
B. M. Ruddock.
Peyton, Roberts, w.
M. B. Rayborn.
R. A. Ross.
E. C. Ratchford.
J. M. Stowe, w.
J. C. Stowe, k.
R. F. Simpson.
J. W. Simpson.
J. S. Smith, k.
R. C C. Taylor.
H. S. Taylor.
Total, 154; killed,
J. Q. Taylor, k.
J. C. Thomason.
Angus Wingate, k.
M. Wingate.
C. C. Wingate.
W. A. Wallace, w.
S. H. Williams.
Taylor Wright, w.
B. A. Withers, w.
J. L. West.
W. M. Wilson.
J. Steele, k.
J. H. Bingham, w.
A. J. Hunter.
29, wounded 4.
COMPANY E, ELEVENTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
J. S. A. Nicholas, Captain, a.
Wm. J. Kerr, Captain.
J. B. Clanton, Lieutenant.
W. S. Turner, Lieutenant.
W. N. S. Means, Lieutenant, k.
W. F. Rozzell, Lieutenant.
James F. Alexander, Lieutenant.
XOX-COMMISSIONED
D. W. McDonald, w.
J. E. Goodman, k.
J. H. McDonald.
J. S. Means, d.
R. S. Wilson, c.
A. J. Hunter, Sergeant.
Abernethy, E. R.
Alexander, Peter.
Auten, S. W.
Ashley, M.
Adams, H. A.
Baker, Aaron.
Baker, Wm. M.
Ballard, Benj.
Brad shaw, J. T.
Beal, Charles, c.
Beal, John, c.
Bird, W. L., w. and pr.
OFFICERS.
Bass, Jas. A., w.
Bass, Buston, c.
Beek, Wm. A.
Baker, Joel M.
Bradley, J. L., c.
Beatty, J. W., c.
Bunier, J., w.
Christy, J. H., k.
Clark, J. A., k.
Cathey, W., w. and pr.
Carmick, J.
Campbell, o. W., c.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
155
Culberson, J. W., c.
Ciemmons, K. R.
Denton, John.
Dixon, W. W., k.
Edwards, Shepherd.
Edwards, Marshal, c.
Eller, A.
Eller, S. W.
Finger, John, w.
Grier, T. H.
Garrison, Alex., c.
Hartline, Andrew.
Hartline, Adam.
Harris, C. C.
Holdslaw, R.
Hinton, A. J.
Hollingsworth, J. B.
Hartgrue, W. W., w.
Hartgrue, R. D. S., w. and c.
Hill, J. W., w.
Helms, E. T., k.
Hartline, P., w.
Hartline, D. L., w.
Hartline, G. H., d.
Jameson, J. W., c.
Jameson, T. J., w.
Jameson, J. W., c.
Johnston, J. H., c.
Kyles, Fielding, c.
Kyles, Win.
King, G.
Kestler, P. H.
Kyle, P. H.
Ledwell, David.
Linebarger, Marshall.
Lawson, Hudson.
Loften, Martin.
Lambert, Wm.
Lewis, Lindsey, w.
Lambert, J. M.
McQuay, S., d.
McQuay, W. H., k.
McClure, C. A. w. and c.
McCorkle, H. P., c.
Mitcha, John, c.
Martin, W., w.
Murdock, W. D.
Miller, J. F.
McLure, J., d.
Maddan, G. W.
Munday, O. M.
Mathison, Jas.
Narson, J. G., c.
Null, J. T.
Nesbitt, J. G., d.
Neal, G. A., w. and c.
Ostwalt, Francis, c.
Pucket, T. J., w.
Pucket, W. C, w.
Pool, G. S.
Pennix, J. W.
1 ennix, J. A.
Rives, J. R.
Reid, J. C, k.
Rhyne, David, c.
Ruis, W. R., w.
Richley, W. L., k.
Rozzell, J. T.
btone, A.
Stinson, J. B.
Sherrell, W.
Smith, D. J.
Griffin, G., d.
Turner, J. W.
Wilson, J. R.
Walker, B., k.
Walker, L. L., c.
Walker, J. H., c.
Walker, Jas. H.
Wingate, J. w. and c.
Wingate, T., w.
Williamson, E. Y., c.
Younts, R. C, k.
York, G. W., c.
Total, 121.
156
HISTORY OP MECKLENBURG COl XTV.
COMPANY H. ELEVENTH REGIMENT.
01 I ITERS.
W. L. Grier, Captain.
P. J. Lowrie, Lieutenant,
C B. Boyce, d.
J. B. Lowrie, k.
J. M. Saville.
J. M. Knox.
R. B. Lourie.
R. D. Saville, w.
P. M. Clark, w.
J. S. P. Caldwell.
C. E. Bell.
Aug. Cotchkip, c.
Thos. Campbell, k
J. T. Smith.
No.\-< o\i MISSIONED nni, , Rs
Abernatny, Elig.
Ashby, J. T.
Alexander, J. A.
Andrews, E. M.
Ashley, Wm., c.
Bailey, Wm.
Brown, A. M.
Belk, Wm.
Boyd, J. J.
Boyd, J. A.
Boyd, David.
Brown, J. W.
Blair, S. W.
Black, J. B.
Bigart, Jas.
Barns, Robt.
Bryant, Sydney.
Boyce, Hugh.
Blankenship, J. N.
L^ankenship, T. G.
Blankenship, S. P.
Caruthers, J. A.
Caruthers, J. B., d.
Chentenberg, C. E.,
Coffe, B. M., w.
Cooper, J. M., c.
Crowel, E. M.
Campbell, J. C.
Cobb, C. A.
Clark, W. A., d.
Carpenter, J. C.
Carpenter, W. B.
Cox, Eli.
Clark, P. M.
Drewry, A. G.
Deggarhart, J. V., c.
Deggarhart, J. L.
Dallarhit, J. D., d.
Dixon, Hugh M., d.
Ettres, J. H., d.
Edwards, J. M., c.
Ellis, Dan, c.
Earnhardt, Geo.
Fite, W. J.
Greer, Z. B., d.
Greer, E. S.
Harris, R. H.
Hall, R. B.
Harris, F. C, w.
Harris, J. C.
Harris, J. H.
Hannel, A. R., k.
Harmon, Levi, c.
Hannon, J. N.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
157
Hays, J. B., c.
Hargett, Aleg.
Herron, J. W.
Hill, C. H.
Humphrey, T. L.
Haron, S. L., c.
Hanna, J. W., c.
Hatchup, A., c.
Hall, N. C.
Henry, J. B.
Henry, B. G.
Hedgepath, Geo.
Harris, Morris.
Holland, Robt.
Hainant, Henry, w.
Hoffman, Miles.
Henderson, W. R.
Ingle, Peter, w.
Johnson, J. W.
King, J. A.
Keenan, Peter.
Key, Albert, w.
Kerr, R. O., d.
Knox, W. H., w. and c.
Kilpatrick, W. F.
Lourie, R. B.
Madden, J. P.
McQuaig, James.
Mincel, Willis, w.
Morrison, W. T.
McMillan, J. C.
McQuaise, Jas., c.
Marshburn, J. M., w.
Neely, J. J.
Porter, R. C, w.
Price, J. A., d.
Peppen, John.
Russell, J. C.
Rice, J. S.
Rhine, A. M.
Rachelle, J. B.
Reid, W. M.
Rumell, J. C.
Ross, R. A., d.
Smith, J. W.
Smith, T. J.
Smith, John L.
Smith, A. J.
Sloop, Alex.
Snider, J. A., k.
Snead, Frank.
Squire, J. A.
Sanders, Jacob.
Sumney, J. B.
Sumney, George, c.
Scott, R. S.
Tarbifield, Jas.
Taggart, J. C.
Thuner, B. A., w.
Thuner, J. T.» w.
Watt, C. B.
Wingate, R. G.
Wilkerson, W. H.
Wilkerson, Jno.
Warren, T. W., c.
Walker, P. L., w.
Watters, Allen.
Young, J. H., d.
Total, 137; killed, t; wounded, 14.
COMPANY B, THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
A. A. Erwin, Captain, w.
W. W. Robinson, Captain, w.
J. D. McLean, Lieutenant.
J. R. Erwin, Lieutenant.
Joe Thompson, Lieutenant, k.
R. S. Warren, Lieutenant.
W. A. Presley, Lieutenant.
158
HISTORY OF MF.CKLENBI/RG COUNTY.
W. S. Alexander, Lieutenant.
W. S. M. Hart, Lieutenant, d.
E. Smith, Lieutenant.
H. J. Walker, Lieutenant, w.
J. M. Choat.
NON-COMMISSIONEt OKFK BBS.
F. C. Youngblood, c.
F. L. Erwin.
J. W. Todd.
R. L. Swann, k.
J. M. Knox, k.
Jas. R. Wingate, k.
Jas. F. Knox, w.
Alexander, Aswold.
Alexander, H. C, k.
Alexander, Ossil.
Alexander, O. S. P., k.
Alexander, M. C.
Alchison, J. C, d.
Adair, Thos.
Adair, Wm.
Brown, Jas. W.
Bailes, G. S.. d.
Baker, Green C, k.
Baker, J. C.
Bartlette, W. F.. w.
Berryhill, J. J.
Berryhill, Jas. L., d.
Blackwelder, A., w.
Bowden, S. D.
Boyd, Jepe A.
Boyd, John, d.
Boyd, J. G. W., w. and d.
Brimer, Alfred, k.
Brown, C. W., k.
Brown, R. E.
Bryan, T. J.
Bigham, M. S.
Beeman, G. C.
Barnett, R. S.
Bartlett, J. H., w.
Clark, A. A., d.
Crawford, Micajah.
Caruthers, J. K.
Cathey, Henry, w.
Choate, A. D., k.
Choate, R. W., w.
Choate, Wm., w.
Clanton, W. D.
Clark, R. F., d.
Crowell, S. W., c.
Darnall, J. J.
Davis, J. C.
Edwards, M. A., w.
Erwin, A. R.
Erwin, J. C, d.
Erwin, J. M., w.
Ellis, Wm.
Frazier, Richard.
Frazier, W. F.
Frazier, Isaac A.
Frazier, J. T.
Flenekin, J. B., d.
Freeman, W. H., w.
Gallant, J. A., w.
Glover, T. M., d.
Grier, E. C.
Grier, S. M., k.
Grier, Thos. M.
Groves, J. R., c.
Garner, Wm.
Hail, W. H.
Heitman, O. B.
Hawkins, J. P.
Hall, W. H., w.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
159
Hawkins, F. A., w.
Hotchkip, S. A.
x^il, W. H.
Jamison, E. A.
Johnson, H. F.
Kerr, John B., w.
Kimball, J. L., k.
Kirkpatrick, J. F., w.
Knox, J. D.
Knox. J. N. k.
Knox, T. N.
Kerr, J. T.
Lee, D. P.
Liberman, C. S., k.
Marks, S. H., w.
Marks, T. H.
McGinn, I. BE., w. and c.
McGinn, N. C, w. and c.
McGinn, W. a., w.
McGinn, J. N.
McLean, J. L.
McRumb, S. W.
McRumb, S. J. S., k.
Mulwee, J. W.
Morrison, J. E., d.
Moser, H. S.. k.
Maness, J. A.
McConnell, Jas. H.
Neagle, Jas. H., w. and c.
Nicholson, J. R.
Nevins, J. G., w.
Orr., G. B., k.
Okely, C, w.
Parks, D. K.
Parks, G. L., d.
Total, 152; killed 20; wounded 32.
Porter, S. A.
Prather, E. L., k.
Powell, A. T.
Prag, W. J.
Parker, S. S., d.
Reed, J. W.
Sterling, J. W.
Sheffield, J. M.
Sloan, G. W., w.
Smith, D. H.
Smith, Ed.
Smith, J. W.
Sturgan, C. S., w.
Spencer, Clark.
Stowe, R. A.
Torrence, W. B.
Taylor, W. J., w.
Thomburg, F. B., k.
Thomburg, G. J.
Thomburg, H. M.
Thomburg, S. L., d.
Ticer, R. C. S., k.
Tradewice, N. P.
Thompson, W. J.
Todd, J. A. W., d.
Taylor, A. A.
Walker, L. J., w.
White, Wm.
Wilson, J. E., k.
Wingate, N. J., w.
Wolfer, H. F., w.
Wryfield, J. R., w. and d.
Wiley, J. C.
Watt, W. T.
Weaver, G. H.
COMPANY K. THIRTIETH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
J. T. Kell, Captain, w.
B. F. Morrow, Captain.
J. G. Witherspoon, Captain, k.
W. E. Ardrey, Captain, w.
C. E. Bell, Lieutenant.
N. D. Orr, Lieutenant.
i6o
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
J. T. Downs, Lieutenant, w.
NOX -COM MISSIONED OFTIOKBS.
J. T. Lee, Sergeant, k.
A. L. DeArmond, w.
A. B. Hood, Sergeant, k.
J. W. McKinney, Corporal.
J. P. Bales, Corporal.
H. T. Cotlharp, Corporal.
A. J. Dunn, Corporal, k.
Adkins, W. H., w.
Adams, Wm.
Alexander, S. D., w.
Alexander, T. P.
Alexander, J. L.
Alexander, J. M., k.
Allen, J. W., d.
Anderson, Wm. d.
Baker, J., k.
Bailey, E. D.
Bailey, J. A.
Bailey, Wm.
Bales, E. M.. w.
Bales, J. P.
Barnett, R. C, k.
Barefoot, N. G., w.
Bentley, M. W. H.
Bell, N. J.
Black, J. N., k.
Black, J. S., d.
Black, J. H., k.
Black, T. A., d.
Bradston, V. M.
Brewer, J. H.
Bowman, R.
Boyce, S. T.
Brinkley H.
Bristow, J. C.
Church, Eli.
Church, Martin.
Coffey, A. S.
Crowell, Isreal.
Culp, A. A., w.
Davis, G. W.. k.
Downs, W. H.
Dixon, S. L., w.
Duckworth, G. P.
Dunn, Geo., c.
Dunn, A. S.
Dunn, S. W. T., d.
Ezzeil, M. F., d.
Gamble, Jas., d.
George, E. P.
George, Prepley, d.
Glover, B. C, w.
Griffin, J. J., w. and d.
Griffith, A. E., k.
Graham, J. W.
Hall, J. F.
Hall, A. G.
Hall, R. B.
Harts, J. H., d.
Hart, W. S., k.
Henderson, W. M., d.
Henderson, W. T., d.
Hood, W. L., w.
Howie, J. H.
Howie, Wm.
Holmes, B., d.
Jennings, G. W., w.
Johnston, D. E.
Johnston, S. A.
Johnston, J. H.
Johnston, G. W.
Kirkpatrick, H. Y., d.
Lee, S. B., d.
Lee, J. A., d.
Lewis, W. H.
Massingale, R. H.
McLean, Thos., w.
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STAGE LINE WAY-BILL. 1846.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
161
McCurry. J. A.
McKinney, R. M.
McMallen, J. H., k.
McQuaig, J.
McRea, James, k.
Miller, D. M., w.
Milton, J. G.
Morris, W. T., d.
Morris, J. T., d.
Myers, James.
Nichols, B. G.
Nelson, J. H.
Orr, T. J.
Patterson, M. S.
Pierce, Orren L.
Pierce, J. M.
Pierce J. W.
Pierce, J. R., d.
Rayner, L., k.
Ray, J. M., k.
Richardson, W. W.
Robinson, W. H., m.
Robinson, J. R., k.
Rap, W. J.
Rap, J. N., k.
Russell, W. D.
Saville, J. C.
Sample, Wm.
Shelby, D. H.
Simmons, — .
Smith, W. S.
Smith, S. B., d.
Smith, J. D.
Smith, J. S.. w.
Shaw, Alex.
Simpson, M. S.
Simpson, J.
Squires, J. W.
Squires, J. B., k.
Stanford, M. T.
Stancil, A. G.
Steel, A. F., k.
Stephenson, J. R.,
Tart, Henry.
Tedder, Sid., k.
Thomasson, J. L., k.
Thomas, W. B.
Thompson, L.
Thompson, Lewis.
Thompson, Lee, d.
Thompson, Jas., d.
Trower, T. J.
Walston, S. L.„ d.
Webb, Wm., d.
West, Wm.
Weeks, R. B., k.
Witherspoon, M. T.,
Wolf, J. N.
Wolf, R. B.
Wolf, G. D., d.
Williams, W. E.
Yeargan, W.
Young, S. T.
Young, J. A.
Total, 150; killed, 25; wounded, 16;
died, 23.
COMPANY G. THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
W. R. Myers, Captain.
G. M. Norment, Captain, w.
J. M. Lawing, Lieutenant.
A. A. Cathey, Lieutenant.
A. H. Creswell, Lieutenant.
R. S. Reed, Lieutenant, k.
Jas. C. Todd, Captain, w.
J. N. Abernathy, k.
l62
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
H. C. Lucas, Sergeant.
Joe B. McGhee, Sergeant.
J. L. Todd, Ordnance Sergeant.
J. W. Davenport, Corporal, k.
Geo. L. Campbell, Corporal, d.
Jas. A. Todd, Corporal, k.
T. A. Johnson, w.
Alcorn, A. S., w.
Alexander, J. O. D., k.
Abernethy, C. W., w.
Abernethy, J. N., k.
Anderson, C. J., k.
Asbury, J. R.. w.
Bain, J. J., d.
Beatty, A. W., w.
Beatty, Samuel, d.
Beatty, John, w.
Bennett, Thos., w.
Berryhill, J. H, w.
Bailiff. Fred. k.
Brotherton, John, w.
Brotherton, Wni.
Burgwyn, Fred.
Bolton. J. C.
Cathey, J. L., \\ .
Cathey, W. H.. d.
Clark, John. k.
Cathey. Wm. A.
Clark, Almirive, k.
Cox, W. C. L., w.
Carpenter, Jas. k.
Downs, Frank.
Duan, T. J., w.
Duglass, S. A.
Elliott, H. W„ k.
Etters, P. P., d.
Etters, H. P.. d.
Erving, John.
Faires, G. N.. d.
Frazier, I. A.
Garren, Andrew.
Gregg. D. H., d.
Greenhill. Lawson. k.
Hayes, S. L., k.
Ho vis, Moses, w.
Hipp, Andrew, d.
Hipp, Pinkney, d.
Hipp, John, d.
Hipp, Wm,
Hipp, J. M.
Hoover, A. B., w.
Hutchison, S. B.
Johnston, D. H., d.
Johnston, F. E., k.
Jarrett, Samuel, k.
King, Thos.. w.
King, Ezekiel.
Lawing, J. S., w.
La wing, J. M., d.
Lynch, Robt.
McGhee, T. J., d.
Mills, W. T.
McGhee, J. T., d.
McCord, W. C. w.
Means. G. W. d.
Means. J. K. P., k.
McCall, Jas., w.
McCall, Alex., c.
McGahey, T. C.
Nicholson, John.
Udell, J. C, d.
Odell. G. W.. d.
Puckett. J. H.. d.
Parks. George, w.
Pickerell, J. H.. w.
Phillips, J. J., k.
Proctor, J. A., m.
Rodden, J. J., w.
Reid, Robt. S., w. and d.
Rosick. G. W,
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
163
Scott, W. A., k.
Shelby, J. L., k.
Stephens, A. B.., d.
Stephens, R. T., w. and d.
Sanford, J. M., k.
Sanford, Jas. O.
Terres, James, w.
Todd, G. F., k.
Todd, G. N., k.
Todd, C. B., w.
Todd, G. C., w.
Todd, J. L., k.
Todd, J. W. S.
Todd, D. S.
Todd, L. N.
Watters, J. G., c.
Winston, C. W.
Total, 100; killed, 26; wounded, 32.
COMPANY H, THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
D. G. Maxwell, Captain.
H. M. Dixon, Captain.
J. M. Davis, captain.
Alexander, Thos. M., captain, d.
Alexander, J. G., lieut.
Alexander, J. K., w.
Alexander, Leander.
Alexander, C. F.
Alexander, A. P., k.
Alexander, S. W.
Alexander, G. W.
Auten, J. W., w.
Barckley, A. C.
Barckley, H. S.
Brown, J. F.
Brown, J. F., c.
Brown, S. H., w.
Benfield, H. S.
Benfield, J. R.
Blount, J. M.
Blakely, W. J., w.
Blakely, A. C, w.
Burgwyn, W. H. S., lieut.
Benfield, B. E., c.
Baker. J. R.
Biggers, W. A.
Beaver, J. M.
Cheshire, C. M., d.
Cook, R. W., d.
Cook, J. P., k.
Caldwell, G. M., sergt., w.
Caldwell, H. W., k.
Caldwell, J. M., d.
Caldwell, R. N.
Caldwell, D. G, d.
Caldwell, D. P., d.
Caldwell, D. A., lieut.
Campbell, W. H., k.
Cochrane, R. B.
Cochrane, N. R. J., c.
Cochrane, L. J., d.
Campbell, C. M., c.
Cochrane, J. L., sergt.
Cochrane, W. C, sergt., k.
Deaton, L. L., k.
Dulin, D. H., c.
Dulin, John, sergt., k.
Dulin, R. H., d.
Dulin, J. C, d.
Dulin, T. L.
Dulin, Matthias, d.
Dulin. W. W., k.
Davis, W. H.
Dennis, J. T.
Earnhardt, C. D., d.
Earnhardt, S. O.
Farris, M. C, w.
Fesperman, M. W., d.
Foard, J. C, k.
Foard, C. A.
Foard, Henry.
Flow, T. J.
Garrison, R. W., w.
164
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Garrison, J. W., w.
Gibson, J. M., k.
Grier, J. O., w.
Hodges, P. B.
Hodges, C. J.
Hodges, W. G.
Howie, S. E., w.
Hunter, G. S.. w.
Hunter, Hugh.
Hunter, A. G., w.
Hunter, J. M.
Hunter, J. M. C.. w.
Hunter, Hester, k.
Hunter, J. M. C.
Hunter, R. C., d.
Hunter, S. C., lieut., w.
Hunter, R. H.
Hutchison, J. R., corporal.
Hall, T. M.
Hall, Amzi.
Hooks, Dave.
Hood, J. M.
Hood, J. R.
Hood, W. S., k.
Hucks, D. W.
Hucks, John.
Harris, C. C.
Harris, G. W., k.
Harris, F. R., k.
Herron, Calvin.
Herron, Green, w.
Herron, John.
Houston, G. W., d.
Irwin, G. C, d.
Johnson, J. J.
Jordan, Mc. H.
Kirk, Wm., k.
Kirk, J. C, w.
Keenan, John, w.
Kilough, Ed.
Kerns, T. M. A., d.
McCombs, Jas.
Mason, J. J., w.
Mason, R. C d.
McCall, C. N.
McCall, D. H.
McCall, R. W.,d.
McCall, Josiah F., k.
McGinnis, j. J.
McGinnis, 1. M.
McLean, H. W., d.
McLure, James.
McLaughlin, W. J., w.
McLaughlin, J. J., w.
McKay, Robt. W., w.
Miller, H. M. W., d.
Miller, J. M., k.
Miller, S. J., d.
Montgomery, Leander.
Montgomery, J. P. C, d.
Morris, W. G., sergt., d.
Morris, D. W.
McCorkle. T. J., d.
Maxwell, W. M.
Morrison, S. N.
Morrison, D. M.
Morrison, Marshall.
McCewon, J. M.
Morris, J. C, k.
McConnell, T. M.
Neal, W. B.
Noles, John, k.
Newell, D. S.
Nelson, R. A.
nelson, T. J.
Osborne, Harvey, d.
Orr, Franklin, d.
Petre, Wm.
Puckett, S. J.
Puckett, J. M.„ k.
Puckett, F. M.
Pharr, T. P.
Query, Wm. W., d.
Query. Leander. sergt., w.
Query. F. E.
Query, F. N.
Rodgers, J. R., k.
Rodgers. T. P.
Rodgers. J. W.
Roday. T. A., d.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
16'
Rankin, C. S., k.
Rankin, W. W., w.
Russ, W. A.
Roberts, S. L.
Roberts W. A., w.
Roberts, J. L., k.
Ramsey, J. F.
Rice, J. W., w.
Rea, James, w.
Stuart, A. H.
Shaffer, W. H., w.
Shaffer, J. S., w.
Solomon, Wm. R.
Solomon, D. A., d.
Stinson, Dave, d.
Thompson, J. W.
Taylor, J. M., d.
Taylor, W. J.
Taylor, W. H.
Tarlton, James D., w.
Wilson, M. A., w.
Wilson, R. L., d.
Wilson, T. J., w.
White, James A., lieut., d.
White, E. F.
Woodall, Thos., w.
Wallace, A. W., k.
Wilson, M. N., w.
Yandle, M. N.
Total, 181; 24 killed; 35 wounded;
5 captured; 33 died.
COMPANY C, THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.
J. M. Potts, Captain.
O. N. Brown, Captain, k.
L. A. Potts, Captain, w.
J. D. Brown, Captain.
T. A. Wilson, Lieutenant, d.
T. J. Kerns, Lieutenant.
J. S. Johnston, Lieutenant.
J. L. Jetton, Lieutenant.
G. H. Beattie, Lieutenant, k.
J. W. Pettus, Lieutenant, w.
A. P. Torrance, Lieutenant, w.
B. A. Johnston, Lieutenant, k.
W. W. Doherty, Lieutenant, k.
J. R. Gillespie, Lieutenant.
J. B. Alexander, Surgeon.
G. M. Wilson, Sergeant, d.
J. A. Gibbes, Sergeant, k.
D. H. Fidler, Corporal, d.
J. A. Bell, Corporal, d.
Armstrong, M., w.
Alexander, J. H.
Alexander, D. R., k.
Alexander, T. L.
Alexander, T. R., w.
Alexander, W., d.
Armor. T. S., w.
Alcorn, T. P., d.
Bell, J. D., d.
Barritt, W. R., d.
Barnett, J. D.
Barnett, J. W.
Beard, Joseph, d.
Beard, J. o., w.
1 66
• HISTORY OF MECKLKNBLRG COUNTY.
Beard, J. M., k.
Beard, J. F. M.
Black, A. J. L., k.
Black, J. C.
Black, W. A., d.
Black, S., d.
Blakely, J. B., d.
Blakely, W. F. M., d.
Blythe, J. \\.
Boyles, J. A.
Brady, R. A., d.
Brown, B. F.
Brown, H. W., k.
Brown, J., d.
Britt, John.
Burleyson, Benj., w.
Carrigan, \V. F.
Cathey, J. W.
Caldwell, W. W., c.
Carpenter, J., c.
Carpenter, J. C, w.
Cochrane, J. C, w.
Cox, Thomas, d.
Chrestainbury, S. D., w.
Dellinger, W.
Deaton, J. R,
Deaton, J. Z.
Fesperman, J. C„ d.
Gardener, H. T., d.
Gibbs, Jack, d.
Gibson, J. J., d.
Gibson, T. A., w.
Goodrum, J. W., c.
Gardener, D., k.
Gardener, S. S.
Grier, J. S.. k.
Harrison, W. H.
Hastings, \v. C.
Henderson, W. -F., k.
Hendrix, J. M., w.
Hendrix, W. P., d.
Holbrooks, R. S.
Hucks, S. L., w.
Hunter, H. C, c. and d.
Hunter, J. F., k.
Hagons, H. M., k.
Hamilton, J. R., k.
Houston, H. L., d.
Houston, J. M.
Howie, A. J., w.
Jenkins, A. B.
Johnston, m.. F., d.
Jamison, J. R.
Kelley, A. A., w.
Kerns, J, A., a.
Kerns, T. J.
Knox. S. W\, w.
Lentz, R. R.
Little, S. S.
Luckey, T. S., d.
Leach, L., d.
McAllister. C, w.
McAuley, H. E., d.
McAuley, A. E.
McCoy, Albert.
McCoy, J. F., k.
McCoy, C. \\ .
McFadden, John, c.
Miller, R. C, c.
Montieth. a. a., k.
Moore, R. D., d.
McAuley, D. N., d.
Morrison, W. S.
Nantz, C. R., d.
Nantz, D. J., w.
Page, J. F., d.
Puckett, E. M., w.
Reid. J. L., d.
Rhyne, J. „., d.
Rodgers, John, d.
Sample, J. W., k.
Sample, W. L., k.
Sloan, T. A.
Sloan, T. C.
Stearnp. A. 1.., d.
Stearns. W. R.
Stuart. S. J., w.
Sellers, Eli.
Solomon, D. A., k.
Stroup, C.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
167
Stroup, M., k.
Sample, E. A.
Shaver, M., k.
Shaw, A.
Todd, J. A., k.
Taylor, W. A., d.
Tiffins, M. B.
Torrance, J. A.
Torrance, H. L. W.,
Torrance, W. W., w.
Tummice, L. G.
Weddington, J. Y.
Wallace, C. S., d.
Warsham, Alex., k.
Warsham, F. M., w.
Warsham, R. R., w.
Warsham, T. L., k.
Warsham, W., d.
White, J. H.
Wiley, J., k.
Williams, C. R., d.
Williams, F. C, d.
Wilson, T. C. d.
Wagstaff. J, R.
Waiter, J. C.
Goodrum, Zeb., d.
Total, 149; died, 37; wounded, 26;
killed, 27.
COMPANY I, THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
J. K. Harrison, Captain.
M. A. McCoy.
N. M. Hart, Captain.
J. I. Elms, Captain.
Wm. M. Etitt, w.
W. D. Elms, Captain, w.
R. M. Oats.
T. K. Sammond.
E. H. Rupel.
J. G. Price.
E. M. Browell.
J. G. McCoy.
A. F. Yandle, w.
J. Wilson.
J. P. Elms, c.
H. F. Icehower, k.
D. C. Robinson, w.
D. C. Robinson, Sergeant, w.
J. C. Reed, Sergeant.
J. O. Alexander, Corporal.
D. M. Rigler, Lieutenant, w.
Lourie Adams, w.
Adaholt, M. L. w.
Alexander, A. M., c.
Alexander, J. A.
Allen, J. H.
Austin, J. W., k.
Ballard, W. H., d.
Barnhill, J. W.
Bean, J. T.
Black, J. P., k.
Black, S. J.
1 68
HISTORY OF MHCKLENBURG COUNTY.
Blackard, Jas., k.
BlanKenship, T. E.F k.
Blythe, S. W.
Bridges, W. A., w. ana <J.
urown, T. G.
Brown, J. K. P., c.
Bruce, Jas., u.
Burns, S. A. .
Brines, J. \» .
Crowell, E. M.
Carpenter, Levi, c.
Carpenter, Marcus, c.
Cathey, B. G., w. and d.
Clark, J. F., c.
Clark, J. W., k.
Clark, Jas., k.
Clontz, Ab., k.
Crocker, W. J., w.
Cross, W. D.
Devine, W. G.
Doilin, T. S., w.
Edwaras, J. A.
Flanigan, B. F.
Flowe, J. C, w.
Freeman, J. J., d.
Freeman, McC, d.
Fronebarger, John, k.
Gates, M. W.
Gordon, J. P., w.
Gordon, J. R., c.
Gurley, W. D., k.
Hargett, A. J.
Hall, Jas.
Hayes, Elijan, c.
Heauly, Wm. L., d.
Henderson, J. W., w.
Henry, Berry.
Henry, Terrell.
Hipp, J. F., w.
Hipp., L. A., w.
Hood, H. C, d.
Hovis, A. J., k.
Hunsucker, J. W., w.
Higgenson, John, w.
Hunter, C. L., k.
Johnston. A. N.
King, G. W.
King, Wm., w.
Harris, N. J.
Haney, E. H.
Hunsucker, Wm., w.
Kissiah, G. W.. w.
Kissiah, T. A.
Kissiah, W. M., w.
Kistler, G. H., w.
Kaiser, D. W., w.
Kaiser, T. P., c.
Kaiser, Solomon, c.
ivirkley, Thos., d.
Lawring, David.
Lawring, P. W., k.
Looker, J. C.
Lourie, S. J.
McGhee, Isaac.
McCoy, W. L., k.
Manning, Jas.
Manning, J. \V.. w.
Montgomery, A. F.
Moody, M. D. L.
Mosters, F. A., d.
Maxwell, D. S., w.
McCall, J. C.
McCord, D. L.
McGinn, J. M., w.
Montgomery, Jas.
'Troney, Caleb, w.
Mullis, Coleman, d.
Mason, Robt. G.
Nicholson, J. B., w.
Orr, Joe. L.. w.
Orr, J. G. A.
Orr, C. M.
Orr, J. L. V., w.
Orr, W. S.
Oates, D. W.
Pegram, M. P.
Patterson, Eli, k.
Patterson, J. H.. w.
Paysour, Caleb, c.
Phillips, J. A., k.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
169
Rarefield, Frank, c.
Reid, George, d.
Robinson, jas. A., d.
Robinson, T. C.
Rudisill, Jacob, w.
Rumage, L., d.
Rupel, S. H., d. in p.
Sbarp, R. A., w.
Sbarp, T. A.
Shaw, D. C, w.
Shoe, Jacob, w. and c.
Simpson, C. L., d.
Simpson, Ira, P., c.
Smith, Franklin.
Spears, A . J.
Spears, J. J., k.
Stearns, Brown, k.
Stearns, Dulin.
Stearns, J. M., w. ana d.
Stewart, A. A.
Stewart, P. J., c.
Stinson, D. W., d. in p.
Tagart, J. S., k.
Tally, Mike, d.
Taylor, Chas.
Taylor, Jepe.
Tally, John, k.
Todd, R. J.
Turner, S. R.
Turner, Wm., d.
Voorheis, Charles I.
Walker, Robt.
Whitley, G. M. D.
Whitley, J. H.
Williamson, G. W., w.
Woodall, vv. C, c.
Wolf, E. B., k.
Young, A. J., k.
Yanaie, A. F., w.
Total, 157; killed, 23; captured, 15;
wounded, 18; died. 16.
COMPANY K, FIFTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
F. R. Alexander, Captain, k.
J. F. McNeely, Captain.
J. A. Wilson, Lieutenant.
J. W. Shepard, Lieutenant.
J. W. Spencer, Lieutenant.
C. M. Payne, Lieutenant.
J. A. Lowrance, Lieutenant.
Alex. Livingston, Lieutenant.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
J. L. Sloon.
J. C. Faucet.
J. T. Hotchkiss.
W. B. Osborne.
J. J. McNeeley, k.
J. H. Williams.
Arney, Henry.
Alexander, A. H.
Alexander, J., k.
Alexander, J. Mc, d.
Alexander, M. D., d.
Alexander, R. A.
Alexander, T. C. w.
Allison. James.
Auten, T. J., w.
Barnett. A. G., w.
[70
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Barringer, D. A., w.
Bell, J. C.
Benson, R. P., d.
Bingham, J. M.. w.
Black, Wm. M.
Bradley, J. H.
Brawley, R. W., w.
Brown, B. D., w.
Brown, J. M., w.
Brown, W. L., w.
Brown, J. C.
Burkhead White, d.
Beard, J. O., k.
Carrigan, K. A., d.
Caldwell, M. E.. w.
Carrigan, Adam.
Cashion, Frank, w.
Cashion, Jas., w.
Cashion, I. W., w.
Cathcart, J. R., k.
Christenburg, Allison, w.
Christenhurg, A. H., d.
Christenburg, Jas.
Christenburg, R. F.
Christenburg, Wm.
Clark, Alex.
Cork, Walter, c. and d.
Craven, W. P.
Cornelius, M. A., w.
Davis. H. W., k.
DeArmond, J. A.
Deweese, Calvin T.
Deweese, G. a., k.
Edwards, G. W., w.
Elms, J. I.
Emerson, M. H.
Faucet, J. C, d.
Fouts, J. M., k.
Garner, Henry.
Heldt, Enoch.
Hill, jas. R. L.
Hunter, H. S., d.
Hux, John. d.
Hux, Wm. M., d.
Jackson, C. H.
Jackson, W. K.. d.
Johnson, J. H.
Jones, A. J.
Jordan, Sansom, d.
Kennerly, E. M.
Kennerly, John, c.
Ketchie, Wm.
Kearns, J. F., c. an 1 a.
Lowrance, R. W., d.
Lowrance, L. N.
Lowrance, S. L., w.
Moble, Joel.
Moble, John.
Martin, J. M., d.
Martin, John.
McAuley, J. C.
McConnell, R. A.
MeGahey, Jas. A., k.
Miller, W. C.
Moore, Jas. C.
Morgan, Zac, k.
Mowery, Henry.
Nance, J. A., d.
Nelson, W., d.
Osborne, N. B., w.
Oliphant, J. R., k.
Reese, D. L.
Shepard, G. T.
Shields, A. C.
bloan, A. C, d.
Sloan, J. Me., d.
Sloan, W. E.
Smith, W. T. d.
Sossamon, J. P., c. and w.
Stearns, Henry M.
Sloan, D. F. A., w.
Stokes, J. J.
Stough, Rich. I.
Strider, John. k.
Templeton, J. E. D.
Templeton, J. M., w.
Templeton. R. D.
Tye, Wm. A.
Vance, W. H., d.
Watts, R. A., d.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
171
Walls, Thos. w. and c.
Worsham, Alfred, w.
Worsham, B. A., d.
Worsham, Richard, d.
Worsham, H. J., w.
Watts, R. F., k.
Williams, J. H., w.
Williams, Rufus.
Total, 121; killed, 13; wounded, 25.
COMPANY K. FORTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
S. B. Alexander, Captain.
B. F. Wilson, Lieutenant.
A. M. Rhyne, Lieutenant, d.
Jos. H. Wilson, d.
XOX-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Thomas Norment.
Wm. Hecks, w. and c.
Wm. Price.
Jas. Keenan, k.
W. S. Bynum, c.
J. H. Staten, d.
S. W. Talton, w.
Ed. Day, k.
Jas. Scott, w.
T. C. Dule.
L. Adams.
Anderson, W. H. H., w.
Anderson, G. "\\ ., d.
Benfield, Dan., w.
Cullet, Ezekiel.
Coots, Jacob, d.
Dulin, W. C, k.
Dulin, W. L.
Foster, J. H., d.
Flowers, R. B.
Gilbert, Harrison,
Gilbert, Jas.
Grub, Absolom, d.
Gaston, J. A.
Griffin, B. F., d.
Hendrix, Grayson, w.
Hendrix, L. J., c.
Hendrix, Sanford, c.
Harman, Paul, w.
Heifer, P. E.
Helms, Hosea, c.
Helms, Enoch, c.
Helms, Giiliam.
Helms, D. B., c.
Helms, Albert.
Helms, John, w.
Helms, Josiah, c.
Helms, Kennel, c.
Helms, Copeland, w.
Helms, J. L.
Helms, Joshua.
Helms, Eli W.
Johnson, Matthew, d.
Milton, Francis, w.
Milton, Alex.
Mitchell, Allison.
Makaler, Frank.
Minor, H. J., c.
Norment, Charles, d.
Orrell, Sam'l.
Paul, J. L., w.
Phillips, J. B., d.
1J2 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Polk, — , k. Shoemaker, Lafayelt;, d.
Perry, Noah. Smith, Joan.
Privette, Wesley. Stone, John, w.
Randah, E. 1). Sanring, J. M.
Rindal, L. L., c. Sharp, Isaac.
Severs, — , k. Triplette, J. H.
Singleton, Henry. Walsh, G. B.. c.
Scott, John W. Walsh, J. H.
Scott, Leader. Whitley, John.
Smith, Alex.
Staner, P. C. Total. 82.
COMPANY F, FORTY-NINTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
Jas. T. Davis, Captain, k.
Jas. P. Ardrey, k.
John C. Grier, w.
John W. Barnett, Lieutenant, k.
R. H. Grier, Lieutenant, k.
J. G. Potts, Lieutenant.
S. R. Neal, Lieutenant.
Jas. H. Elms, Lieutenant.
W. T. Barnett, k.
L. M. Neal, k.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
J. A. Elliott.
R. C. Bell.
Wm. L. Manson, w.
J. A. Ezzell.
J. W. Wolf.
Robt. N. Alexander.
Alexander, E. E. Crenshaw, John, w.
Alexander, R. W. Culp, John, w.
Alexander, J. J., k. DeArmond, J. B., w.
Alexander, T. B., d. Dunn, Jas. R., w.
Alexander, W. P., w. Elliott, S. H., w.
Allen, A. W. Farris, J. A., w.
Ashley, Wm. Fields, M. A.
Barnett, W. P. Fincher, J. E., d.
Bennett, D. G., w. Fincher, O.
Brown, J. G. Fleniken, L. B.
Brown, W. H. French, Wm.
Cruthers, T. M., w. Garrison, A. D.
Crane, Job S. Gordon, A. E.
CIVII, WAR TROOPS.
173
Griffin, Egbert.
Griffith, I. G.
Griffith, J. W.
Griffith, T. D.
Grier, Lawrence,
Hannon, J. J.
Harkey, D. E.
Harkey, J. J.
Harkey, M. L.
Harkey, Wash.
Hartis, J. L.
Hartis, J. S.
Hanfield, Jas. W.
Hennigen, J. E.
Howard, J. M., w.
Hudson, Wilson.
Jamison, Emory.
Johnson, Dan.
Johnson, J. A.
Kenan, D. G.
Kenier, J. R.
Kerr, Jas.
Kerr. Sam'l.
Kirkpatrick, S. A.
McAllister, H. B.
McRaney, Sam'l.
Miller, W. T.
Moore, W. W.
Morris, G. C.
Morris, J. W.
Neel, W. B.
Neely, Wm. A.
Newell, W. A.
Osborne, J. H., w.
Paxton, S. L.
Phifer, E. M., k.
Pierce, John, k.
Pierce, L. M.
Porter, Robt. A., w.
Porter, S. L.
Porter, Zenas.
Pratner, A. R., d.
Prather, S. F.
Previtt, Allen.
Raterree, W. L.
Rea, D. J., w.
Reid, William, k.
Richardson, J. H.
Ross, W. A.
Shaw, J. N.
Smith, E. C.
Smith, Wm. J. B.
Spraa, A. P.
Squires, M. D., w.
Stanford, C. L.
Stephenson, Wm. J., w.
Stitt, Jas. M.
Swann, J. B.
Taylor, Ed. S., w.
Taylor, J. A. R., w.
Tevepaugh, Wm.
Tidwell, W. P. A.
Turner, F. M.
Walker, E. M., w.
Warwick, J. M., w.
Watson, J. A., d.
Watson, J. B.
Watson, J. S.
Weeks, J. L., w.
Whitesides, Wm., w.
Wingate, J. P., w.
Wingate, Wm. C.
Wolf, J. W.
Total, 116; killed, 5; wounued, 23.
died, 5.
COMPANY B, FIFTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
J. H. White, Captain; k.
S. E. Belk, Captain, k.
J. M. Springs, Lieutenant.
J74
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUN'J V.
\V. M. Matthews, Lieutenant.
M. E. Alexander, Lieutenant.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFKU'KKS.
R. J. Patterson, w.
S. M. Blair.
R. A. Davis.
A. N. Gray.
W. R. Baily.
R. H. Todd, k.
W. H. Alexander, k.
Alexander, J. W.» d.
Alexander, Benj. P.. d.
Alexander, Benj. C.
Anderson, Wm,, d.
Atchison, Wm., c. and w.
Armstrong, Leroy, c.
Barnett, R. S.
Barnett, W. A., k.
Barnett, E. L. S.
Berryhill, W. A., c.
Berryhill, Andrew, w.
Berryhill, Alex.
Barnes, S. S. D., d.
Bruce, G. W.
Burwell, J. B.
Benton, Sam'l, w.
Baker, G. F., w.
Cochran, J. M.
Cochran, Wm. R.
Cochran, R. C.
Cotchcoat, J. H., w.
Capps, John, d.
Caton, Elijah, w. and c.
Caton, Sylv., c. and d.
Clark, W. H.
Clark, W. C.
Clark, A. W.
Collins, John, k.
Campbell, J. P.
Davis, W. A., d.
Demon, Jacob.
Donnell, W. T., w. and c.
Engenburn, J.
Eagle. John, w.
Eagle. W. H.
Epps, W. D., k.
Engel, Jonas.
Frazier, J. L.
Fincher, Asa.
Farrices, Z. W.
Frazier, J. C. R.
Grier, J. G., w.
Giles, M. O.
Giles, S. H.
Howie, J. M.
Howie, SamT M., w.
.nowie, F. M., w.
Hall, H. L., w.
Hood, R. L., c.
Harry, W. B., w.
Hoover, F. M.
Katz, Aaron.
King, P. A., k.
Kirkpatrick, T. A.
Knox. J. S.
Leon, Lewis.
Love, D. L.
Marks, S. S., c.
Marks, J. G., w.
Marks, T. E., k.
Marks, W. S.
McGinn, Thos.
McElroy. Jas. W., k.
Mitchell, C. J.
McKinney, Wm.
McKinney, T. A., c.
Merritt, Wm. N., k.
McCrary, Jordan.
Morrison, J. M.
McCombs, A. H., w. and c
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
175
Maxwell, P. P.. w.
McCrum, H. A., k.
Norment, A. A., k.
Otters, Cooney, c. and .d.
Owens, J. Henry, k.
Oates, Jas.
Potts, Jas. H.
Patterson, S. L.
Parks, iviiah, c.
Reid, H. K.
Reid, J. F., k.
Robinson, Thomp.
Russell, H. T.. c.
Rodden, N. B., w.
Rodden, W. R.. k.
Robinson, J. P.
Smith, Lemuel.
Sweat, J. M.
Sample, H. M., c.
Sample, David.
Sample, J. W.
Sample, J. M., c.
Springs, R. A.
bione, W. D., w. and c.
Sullivan, W. L.
Stewart. W. S., d.
Taylor, J. W., w.
Todd, S. E.
Thomas, Henry.
Trotter, A. G.
x rotter, Thos., d.
Vickers, E. N.
Worthern, Henry, d.
Wilkenson, Neil, k.
Wolfe, C. H.
Winders, P. S., c.
Wilson, L. R., c.
Wilson, J. H., k.
Wilson, S. W., w. and c.
Wilson, J. M.
Wilkinson, R. L.
Williams, Hugh.
Williams, J. A.
Williams, A. L.
Williamson, A. L., c.
Williamson, J. M., c.
White, J. T.
Total, 110; killed, 16; wounded, 21;
died, 12; captured, 20.
COMPANY E, FIFTY-NINTH REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
J. Y. Bryce, Captain, w.
Robt. Gadd, Lieutenant.
B. H. Sanders, Lieutenant.
Wm. Bryce, Lieutenant.
XON-COMMISSIOXED OFFICERS.
J. J. Misenheimer.
J. B. Savis.
J. F. Davidson.
G. F. Vickers, k.
— . — . Vickers, k.
W. H. A. Kluts.
M. L. Furr.
Noah Shore.
R. Kluts.
Blackwelder, D. C. Biggers. Robt.
Biggers, William. Bost, Moses.
Biggers, Houston, d. Bost, S. C.
176
HISTORY OF MECKLHN1HKG COUNTY.
Bost, J. K. P.
Beattie, J. O.
Baroon, George.
Barber, Josiah.
Benson, H. A.
Broadstreet, J. R., c.
Browning, J. M., d.
Clay, J. M.. c.
Cline, H. B.
Cline, W. D., c.
Carriker, S. C.
Cox, J. D.
Cruse, Peter.
Carson, J. L.
Craig, Alex., c.
Davis, W. E.
Doolan, E., k.
Eaudy, Paul.
Furr, Mat.
Furr. D. C.
Furr, Allen.
Furr, A. W., d.
Fisher, C. A.
File, J. F.
Falls, W. A.
Faggart, D. C.
Foard, E. M.
Floyd, Wm.
Fink, Peter, k.
Griffin, Wesley.
Gatlin, G. W.
Grover, Austin.
Hagler, Jacob.
Hagler, Allen.
Hagler, Nelson.
Hagler, J. A.
Hoffman, J. L.
Hoffman, J. L.
Hoffman, J. M.
Hartman, H. M.
Howell, W. E.
Hunsucker, N. J.
Johnson, J. M., c.
Johnson, G. W.
Johnson, Jacob.
Kiser, G. A.
Kiser, N. D.
Kimmons, R. M.
Lay, J. G.
Linker, Jas.
Linker, W. R.
Linker, Aaron.
Linker, Moses.
Lefter, W. H.
Lay, W. J.
Lay, A. L.
Lay, J. W.
Ledford, C. M.
McCoy, J. R.
McDaniel, E. B., k.
McDaniel, E. A., d.
McEntire, M. L., c.
Misenheimer, J. H.
Moreton, W. R., d.
Moore, Dr. T. J.
Osborne, J. F.
Osborne, Robt., d.
Plyler, F. S.
Pender, J. H.
Perkins, A.
Pace, Young.
Reaves, F. A.
Rice, Moses.
Richards, Wm.
Ray. A. D., c.
Rhyne, C. M.
Rinehart, W. D., c.
Rinehart, Thos.
istarnes. John, d.
Starnes. E. W.
Sossaman, D. G.
Sossaman, W. H.
Smith, G. F.
Smith, G. L.
Smith, J. B.
Stranter, Wm.
Stranter, John.
Stranter, T. H.
Stowe, L. P.
Smith, Frank, k.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
17;
Smith, L. A.
Thomas, C. W.
Turner, W. D.
Troutman, Geo.
Wilson, J. M.
Wallace, J. M.
Wilson, Wm.
Wallace, J. R.
Williamson, J. M.
Williamson, J. B., w.
Total 116; died 6; killed 6; wounded
3 ; captured 4.
COMPANY B, FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
OFFICERS.
Robert P. Waring.
Drury Ringstaff, First Lieutenant.
William E. Still, Second Lieutenant.
Julius Alexander, Second Lieutenant.
Robt. T. Burwell, Second Lieutenant.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Drury Lacy, First Sergeant.
Robt. B. Corbie, Second Sergeant.
S. R. Johnston, Third Sergeant.
J. Harris Hunter, Fourth Sergeant.
R. T. Burwell, Fifth Sergeant.
Henry S. Presson, First Corporal.
Smiley W. Hunter, Second Corporal.
Robt. C. McGinness, Third Corporal.
Hiram Secrest, Fourth Corporal, k.
Alexander, John M.
Aycock, W. M., k.
Broom, Samron.
Broom, Solomon.
Broom, S. A.
Broom, N. W.
Broom, Calvin, k.
Broom, Wilson.
Broom, A. T.
Barnes, Bryant.
Blackwelder, D. M.
Boyd, Hugh.
Burwell, W. R.
Cocnran, W. L., k.
Craft, A. J.
Allen, Dees K.
Fincher, Levi J., w.
Fowler, Moses F.
Fowler, Geo. W., k.
Griffith, J. Henry, k.
Griffith, J. L.
Grier, Paul B., k.
Griffith, Marley.
Griffith, Farrington.
Harrington, Ed. P.
Helms, Asa.
Helms, Josiah, k.
Helms, Noah.
Helms, Elbert, k.
Helms, W. M.
Helms, Alex. L.
Helms, Noah J.
Howell, W. J., k.
Hunter, Mad., k.
Hargrave, Robt. W.
Knight, W. M.
Singleton Lacy D.
Little, Bryant.
Moore, Pleasant.
McGwirt, David.
McGwirt, H. A.
Mullis, Simon.
1 78
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Mannis, T. M.
Mannis, A. W.
Price, Josiah G.
Phillips, John.
Presley, John M.
Presley, Caswell.
Parsons, Larkins.
Paxton, William W.
Robinson, M. M.
Robinson, M. B.
Rea, W. F.
Reams, John W., k.
Robinson, Samuel J.
Stearns, Johnston.
Stearns, Daniel, k.
Stearns, Thos. H.
Stearns, John R., k.
Stack, Albert.
Steele, Albert, k.
Steele, Thos.
Stegall, Moses.
Stegall, Ambrose.
Stancel, James.
Stout, J. S.
Swift, Geo. W.
Simpson, H. Mc.
bikes, Geo. G.
Sherrill, William E.
Thornburg, John L.
Womack, John.
Wilson, W. A.
Wilson, J. A.
Wilson, G. J.
Total, 89; reported killed, 20;
wounded, 1; died, 7; 19 only returned
home; 42 missing.
COMPANY F, SIXTY-THIRD REGIMENT (Cavalry).
OFFICERS.
John R. Erwin, Captain.
J. McWhite, First Lieutenant.
C. S. Gibson, Second Lieutenant.
W. J. Wiley, Third Lieutenant.
S. A. Grier, First Sergeant.
J. R. Kirkpatrick, Second Sergeant.
R. A. Davidson, Third Sergeant.
P. W. Lintz, Fourth Sergeant.
J. H. Henderson, First Corporal.
J. M. Beaver, Second Corporal.
H. C. Bird, Third Corporal.
C. B. Palmer, Fourth Corporal.
Armstrong, Larkin.
Armstrong, Mathew.
Alexander, H. L.
Abernathey, W. D.
Andrews, G. W.
Asbury, Eugene.
Adams, James.
Brown, J. C.
Blackwelder, James.
Blackwood, Eli.
Burroughs, John.
Brum, C. F.
Alexander, W. N.
Alexander, J. W.
Alexander, J. S.
Bowden, Louis.
Bigham, Green.
Cochran, J. C.
Cochran, R. E.
Caldwell, D. A.
Caldwell, R. B.
Caldwell, J. N.
Caldwell. H. M.
Cahill, John.
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
179
Cathey, John.
Coleman, T. P.
Davidson, R. A.
Davis, J. T. A.
Downs, J. T.
Eudy, John.
Erwin, W. R.
Furguson, F. A.
Flenigan, R. G.
Ferrell, J. F. M.
Fisher, J. V.
Fisher, Alfred.
Fisher, Francis.
Fisher, E. L.
Faggot, Dan.
Gibson, D. M.
Griffith, C. F.
Grier, J. H.
Grier, Sam.
ttarkey, W. F.
Howie, W. H.
Halobough, J. M.
Hunter, A. B.
Hoover, T. J.
Hannon, D. A.
Harris, J. S.
Hinson, M.
Hutchison, C. N.
Hartsell, Wm.
Jamison, J. L.
Jennings, J. H.
Kirkpatrick, W. L.
Kirkpatrick, J. M.
Kerr, R. D.
Kustler, M. E.
Love, D. L.
Love. J. M
Lentz, Aaron.
Lindsay, Thos.
Leeper, Jas.
Ludwick, S.
Ludwick, Wm.
Montgomery, R. C.
McCall, J. A.
McElhany, E. A.
McElhany, S. L.
McDonald, J. R.
McDonald, Worth.
Millen, R. A.
McKenzie, Wm.
Means, P. B.
Moore, J. M.
Miller, S.
Minus, J. S.
Nance, W. T.
Nelson, J. M.
Norwood, R. F.
Neagle, J. F.
Prather, W. S.
Quiry, Walter.
Reed, W. H.
Russell, P. J.
Roper, P. H.
Regler, J. R.
Rea, D. B.
Rea, Samuel.
Smith, D. W.
Smith, A.
Smith, R. T.
Smith, J. B.
Smith, John.
Smith, Wm.
Sloan, W. S.
Shuman, W. H.
Sharp, J. R.
Survis, T. O.
Terris, C. E.
Tiser, W. H. G.
Taylor, D. B.
Tate, T. A.
Tate, F. A.
Torrence, C. L.
Wilson, Wm.
Wilson, J. C.
White, R. S.
Weaver, J. A.
Wright, J. C.
Wryfleld, Wm.
Wallace, I. N.
Younts, J. A.
Young, J. A.
Total, 127.
]8o STORY OF MECKLENB1 RG CO! MV.
CHAPTER XV.
MECKLENBURG'S PART IN THE MEXICAN WAR.
Roster of the Troops in the company Organized in Charlotte in
April of 1847.* — Green W. Caldwell was Captain and He and the
Lieutenants Were Honored by seats in the General Assembly
After the End of the War. — The Total Number of the Soldiers
was Seventy-nine, and Eleven of Them Died in the Bervioe.
James Knox Polk, a native of Mecklenburg county, was
inaugurated President of the United States March 4, [845,
and in his inaugural address, he declared that he should de-
fend the contentions of the United States with regard to the
boundary line between Texas and Mexico. December 29th
following. Texas, having adopted the proposition submit-
ted, was formally recognized as a State of the Union.
Mexico claimed that the proper boundary was the Xeuces
river, while Texas claimed that it was the Rio Grande. In
March. 1 846, General Taylor, acting under orders of the
President, advanced into the disputed territory, and the
Mexican general. Ampudia, declared that Mexico accepted
the advance as a declaration of war. April 26th, the first
blood of the war was shed, a party of sixty-three Americans
being all killed or captured by a Mexican detachment. Con-
gress then declared war and the armies of the United States
pushed forward into Mexico and soon demonstrated their
great superiority as fighters. Vera Cruz was surrendered
in April, 1847, and the capital city was captured Septem-
ber 13. The treaty of peace was signed February 2. [848.
In April, 1847. Green W. Caldwell resigned his position
as director of the United States Mint in Charlotte, to organ-
ize a company of dragoons for the war with Mexico. The
company left Charlotte April 13. and went to Charleston,
and from there to Vera Cruz, where thev were enrolled as
♦From the Supplement to the "Roster of North Carolina Troops,
in the War With Mexico," published by the State in 1887.
UNITED STATES CURRENCY.
MECKLENBURG S PART IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 181
Troop A, of the Third Regiment of the United States Dra-
goons, of which the Colonel was E. G. W. Bntler. This
regiment engaged in a number of battles, in all of which the
Mecklenburg troops participated. Captain Caldwell's com-
pany was mustered out of service at Jefferson Barracks, Mis-
souri, July 31, 1848, and the soldiers, except the eleven who
had died and, two others who were missing, returned home
and many of them were for many years numbered among
the prominent and useful citizens.
In the election held in 1849 for members of the General
Assembly, which met in the following year. Captain Cald-
well was elected to the State Senate, and Lieutenants J. K.
Harrison and E. C. Davidson were elected Representatives.
ROSTER OF TROOP A. THIRD REGIMENT OF UNITED STATES
DRAGOONS.*
Green W. Caldwell, Captain.
Edward C. Davidson, First Lieutenant.
John K. Harrison, Second Lieutenant.
Alfred A. Norment, Second Lieutenant.
Samuel E. Belk, First Sergeant.
James Brian, Sergeant.
Thomas D. Massey, Sergeant.
John G. Query, Sergeant.
John Harkey, Corporal.
Charles J. Titlemary, Corporal.
James T. Blair, Corporal.
Matthias W. Cole, Corporal.
John R. Glover, Corporal.
Cyrus Q. Lemons, Bugler.
James T. Warren, Blacksmith.
*From the Supplement to the "Roster of North Carolina Troops,
in the War with Mexico," published by the State in 1887.
1 82
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY
Alexander, C:.arlfs G.
Alexander Evan.
Alexander, Samuel J.**
Alexander, Thomas.
Beaty, William L.
Boyd, Matthew B.
Bridges, Nicholas R.
Caldwell, LaFayette.
Cody, John.
Cutler, William.
Davidson, William L.
Dougherty, Charles R.
Flenniken, Robert G.
Forbes, Archibald.
Fullenwider, John F.
Glass, James R.**
Gray, Ransom S.
Griffith, Thomas D.
Houston, William A.
Keziah, William A.**
Lemons, D
Lemons, Archibald.
Lemons, Jackson C.
Mason, Robert G.
Matthews, Hugh A.
McCall, James.**
McCall, John A.
McCall, William.
McCall, William J.
McKee, Alex. F.
McKee, Elias R.
Mulwee, John T.
Normant, Thomas T.
Parks, Henry.
Prather, John J.
Paxton, William.
Phifer, John.
Porter, Hugh G.
Rea, William F.
Reed, James B.**
Richardson, John K.
Richardson, Mason.
Robinson, Daniel E.
Robinson, James M.**
Sanders, Jesse.
Sherrill, Hartford.
Sherrell, Robert K.
Sherrell, William.
Sherrill, Absolom L.*
Sitzer, James.
Smith, Burton.
Smithy, Willis W.
Stanford, David W,
Stilwell, Henry.
Stewart, Allen.**
Stewart, Milus R.**
Teague, John.
Tye, William A.
Vipon, Nicholas.
Waitt, William E. R.
Wentz, Valentine.**
Williamson, James D.
Williamson, John M.
Williamson, Thomas J.
Wilson, George W.**
**Died in Mexico.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
Account of the Service Rendered uy Mecklenburg Troops— Rosters
of the Three "White Companies and the Colored Company.*—
Charlotte Soldiers Among the First Americans to Land in
Havana.
February 15, 1898, the destruction of the United States
battleship Maine, in Havana harbor, brought the Spanish-
American hostile feeling to an acute stage. Congress de-
clared war on Spain April 19, and on May 11; Ensign
Worth Bagley, of North Carolina, was killed by the explo-
sion of a Spanish shell while on the torpedo boat Winslow,
at Cardenas. He was the first officer to die in the war.
President McKinley's call for volunteers April 23, met
with a prompt response in North Carolina. The First Reg-
iment of the State was mustered into the service of the Na-
tion at Camp Bryan Grimes, at Raleigh, May 2. In this
regiment were the two white companies which went from
Charlotte. The troops left Raleigh May 22, and encamped
near Jacksonville until October 24, when they went to Sa-
vannah and remained there until December 7. At that time,
the regiment was ordered to Havana, arriving December
11, and being the first to land in the Cuban capital.* It
was kept in Cuba until March 18, 1899, and then returned
to Savannah and was mustered out April 22. George F.
Rutzler, of Charlotte, was a major of the regiment, and H.
M. Wilder was surgeon with rank of major. R. E. David-
son, now 01 Charlotte, was colonel of the First Florida Reg-
iment.
♦Roster of the North Carolina Volunteers in the Spanish-American
War, printed hy the State, 1900.
♦Official Reports.
1 84
HISTORY OF .MKCKI.KXI'.IKG COl'XTV.
ROSTER OF COMPANY A, FIRST N. C. REGIMENT.*
Thomas R. Robertson. Captain.
Thomas L. Powell, First Lieutenant.
Herbert J. Hirshinger, Second Lieutenant.
Albert G. Prempert. First Sergeant.
James M. Edwards, Q. M. Sergeant.
Thomas Garribaldi, Q. M. Sergeant.
Egbert Lyerly, Seargeant.
Johnson Graham, Sergeant.
Paul Schultz, Sergeant.
Ripley P. Smith, Sergeant.
Gordon H. Cilley, Hickory, Corporal.
William B. Flake, Corporal.
Robert B. Knox, Corporal.
George M. Maxwell, Corporal.
Charles M. McCorkle, Newton. Corporal.
Coleman O. Moser, Corporal.
Francis D. McLeon, Corporal.
Luther M. Osborne, Corporal.
Charles M. Setzer, Corporal.
James J. Stuart, Corporal.
Patrick H. Williams, Corporal.
Ulyses B. Williams, Corporal.
John G. Wilfong, Corporal.
William K. Allen, Artificer.
John J. Ozment, Artificer.
William R. Graham, Wagoner.
Claude Miller, Wagoner.
John F. Butt, Wagoner.
James H. McLeon, Cook.
Allen, Otto A., Gastonia.
Armstrong, W. L., Belmont.
Auten. Edward M.
Boiles, E. L., Pineville.
Bennett, D. E.. King's Mountain.
Brown, W. A., Davidson.**
Brown, Karl.
Burge, D. L., Rutherfordton.
Butler, N. A. Clinton.
Campbell, J. H., Newton.
Campbell. M. O., Newton.
Cannon, Dink, Marion.
Colbert, D. L., Augusta, Ga.
Crump, S. R., Mint Hill.
Crump, T. C, Mint Hill.
Delnaux, Alfred.
DeMarcus, Lucian, Davidson.
Elam, Ralph, Spartanburg.
Fink, L. A., Pioneer Mills.
Francis, W. A., Henrietta.
Frederick, W. T„ Sardis.
Fry, Burt A.
Garibaldi, John N.
Garrison, John. Morganton.
*A11 enlisted from Charlotte except as otherwise stated, mustered
out April 22, 1899, at Savannah.
**Died in Davidson on furlough, October 19, 1898.
STATE CURRENCY.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
185
Ginn, G. R., Atlanta.
Glenn, R. W., Cluster.
Goforth, John F., Bethel, S. C.
Goforth, J. L., King's Mountain.
Gribble, Marcus H.
Grier, D. D., Matthews.
Grier, V. G., Matthews.
Head, R. L., Statesville.
Hennessee, S. A., North Cove.
Henning, P. A., Chicago, 111.
Herndon, W. P., King's Mountain.
Hill, John D.
Hodges, Oliver L.
Hoke, W. P., King's Mountain.
Hord, R. M., Waco.
Parker, D. W., Spartanburg.
Pegram, William E.
Pitts, J. B., concord.
Proctor, W. A., Lincolnton.
Reid, J. C, Sago.
Renn, E. W., West Durham.
Rhodes, J. E., King's Mountain.
Richard, C. J., Pensacola, Pla.
Roper, D. C, Spartanburg.
Roper, R., Spartanburg.
Romley, S. F., Winston.
Sells, James.
Sherrill, C. M., Newton.
Sikes, Daniel S.
Smith, O. B., Callahan.
Huffsteller, W. T., King's Mountain. Steadman, W. W., Ramasbur
Ivey, B. F., Rock Hill, S. C.
Jimison, M. E., Rocky Pass.***
Johnson, Wallace D.
Kale, A. E., Hickory.
Keener, H. O., Hickory.
Lewis, J. W., Marion.
Lewis, J. A., Marion.
Linton, S. E.
Lyon, J. S., Hendersonville.
Navney, R. J., King's Mountain.
Mize, R. L., Granite Falls.
Montgomery, Walter W.
Murphy, Harry, Boston, Mass.
McKay, Joseph V.
Odell, M., Bessemer City.
Trimble, J. M., Monroe.
Wavra, Gus. E.
Weir, J. F., King's Mountain.
White, L. W., Augusta, Ga.
Williams, B., Marion.
Williams, J. W., Clover, S. C
Williams, W. H., Jr., Newton.
Wilson, W. M., Rhems, S. C.
Yoder, A. T., Hickory.
Yount, A. O., Newton.
Yount, L. C, Hickory.
Yount, T. E., Newton.
Yount, W. H., Newton.
Total, 114.
ROSTER OF COMPANY M, FIRST N. C. REGIMENT.
William A. Erwin, Captain.
Hubert S. Chad wick. Captain.**
Harry Page, First Lieutenant. (Promoted.)
John R. Van Ness, First Lieutenant.***
Samuel Bell, Second Lieutenant. (Promoted.)
William H. Schroeder, Jr., First Sergeant. (Promoted.)
*A11 enlisted from Charlotte, except as otherwise stated. Mustered
out April 27, 1899, at Savannah.
**Resigned December 1, 1898.
***Resigned October 30, 1898.
[86
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
William F. Kuester, Second Sergeant.
Herbert N. Banks, Sergeant.
Eli W. Bonney, Sergeant.
Oscar D. King, Sergeant.
Lloyd C. Torrence, Sergeant.
W. C. Adams, Pennsylvania, Corporal. (Died..*
J. H. Dickson, Spartanburg, Corporal.
E. E. Williams, Steele Creek, Corporal.
C. G. Carter, Albemarle, Corporal.
W. A. Neal, Sardis, Corporal.
S. S. Pegram, Soutb Point, Corporal.
Frederick R. Cates, Corporal.
Duncan F. Davis, Cumberland, Corporal.
Charles E. Mosteller, Corporal.
E. P. Carpenter, Gastonia, Corporal.
O. P. Bright, Greenville, Corporal.
Arthur B. Ferris, Corporal.
John W. Floyd, Corporal.
W. W. Phillips, Redclay, Ga., Artificer.
R. C. Hummel, Greensboro, Cook.
John Hardy, Wagoner.
William H. Ayers, Wagoner.
George F. Smith, Tryon, Musician.
William H. Asbury, Musician.
Alexander, William B.
Bailey, W. B., Marion.
Barkley, Enen L.
Beon, W. F., Asheville.
Bridges, Joseph R.
Cooper, F. W., Dysartville.
Cates, Lucky R.
Cauble, C. M., Asheville.
Chapman, A. F., Enola.
Cheary, J. J., Concord.
Culp, E.. Fort Mills, S. C.
Collins, W. M., Greensboro.
Cozby, W. L., Greenville, S.
Cooper, H. L.. Dysartville.
Crone, V. H., Partieth.
Davis, W. M., Fayetteville.
Davis, Edgar S.
Daniel, W. &., Greensboro.
Dunn, Rufus C.
Duncan, R. M., Marion.
Delnaux, Florian.
Finger, R. T., Crouse.
Freeman, John E.
Freeman, Neal B.
Greely, C. E., New London.
Gore, V. L., Philadelphia.
Gregory, R. E. L., Barnardsville.
Glass, J. D., Dysartville.
Graham, John M.
Grose, Ralph.
Gray, Edward S.
Hargett, F., Sharon.
Hillis, W. H., Augusta, Ga.
Hollister, G. H., Wilmington.
Hickey, R. H., Newport, Tenm
Hendley, J. to., Marion.
Hoke, C. W., Clairmont.
Hunt. H. H., Spartanburg.
Harrett, O. H., Palm. (Died.>
Jones, Walter G.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
I87
Jones, William H.
Kerr, E. D., Sharon.
Kissiah, Thomas.
Lander, William T.
Langford, 0. S., Augusta, Ga.
Lindsay, R. T., Pittsburg, Pa.
Linear, N., Fort Mills, S. C.
Lequex, F. S., Greensboro.
McDonnell, S. K., Jr., Rock Hill,
McGowan, John W.
Moore, W. H., Lowsville.
Mace, C, Bnola.
Murphy, Micjiel.
Murphy, Dennis.
Neese, John W.
Oates, W. D. S.
Osborne, John M.
Phillips, A. J., Concord.
Poplin, W. S., Stanley county.
Porter, W. H., Matthews.
Parrott, J. W., Richmond, Va.
Pegram, Walter P.
Ramsey, W. A., Durham.
Rogers, R. B., Leicester.
Revelle, J. H., Salisbury.
Sadler, Armond D. (Promoted.)
Stutts, Louis B.
Scott, Claudius.
Sandifer, E. L., Sandifer.
1. C.Shaw, G. R., Lamont.
Timmons, Harry.
Wood side, Rufus W.
Thomas, G. W., Gaston.
Williamson, C, Matthews.
Wells, J. M., Duplin county.
Wall, J. M., Marion.
Withers, M. P., Gastonia.
Walker, Charies C.
Yandle, L. S., Ran*an.
Total, 109.
ROSTER OF COMPANY G, SECOND N. C. REGIMENT.*
This regiment was mustered into the service May 26.
1898. After six weeks of camp drill at Raleigh, the com-
panies of the regiment were separated. Campanies D and
G, under command of Major Dixon, were stationed at Land's
End, S. C. In October, the regiment was consolidated at
Raleigh, and the troops were given a thirty days' furlough.
Before the time expired an ordei was issued that the mem-
bers of the companies should assemble at the most conven-
ient points and be there mustered out. Accordingly. Com-
pany G disbanded in Charlotte, November 3, 1898. Rev.
A. Osborne, of Charlotte, was chaplain of this regiment, and
E. M. Brevard was assistant surgeon, with rank as captain.
Robert Lee Durham, Gastonia, Captain.
Plato T. Durham, Gastonia, First Lieutenant.
*A11 enlisted from Charlotte except as otherwise stated,
was known as the Gastonia Company.
This
lotf HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Ernest N. Farrior, Second Lieutenant.
Walter V. Brem. Jr., First Sergeant.
A. A. Wilson, Mt. Holly, Q. M. Sergeant.
C. M. Isenhour, Gastonia, Sergeant.
S. S. Shuford. Gastonia, Sergeant.
G. C. Sand if er, Sandifer, Sergeant.
F. H. Wilson, Gastonia, Sergeant.
R. L. Jenkins, Gastonia, Corporal.
H. M. Miller, Athens. Ga., Corporal.
John S. Woodard, Corporal.
R. P. Elmore. Gastonia, Corporal.
Thomas H. Trotter, Corporal.
A. Lewis, Gastonia. Corporal.
W. M. Robinson, Lincolnton, Corporal.
W. L. Williams, Glenburnie. Corporal.
William F. Duke, Corporal.
H. Otter, New York, Corporal.
J. S. Vincent, Midlothian, Va., Corporal.
J. W. Horton, Washburn, Corporal.
W. A. Ray, McAdensville, Corporal.
Albert S. Savin, Musician.
T. B. Bryant, Gaffney, S. C, Musician.
Joe. F. Harris, Artificer.
William C. Hargett, Wagoner.
Alexander, A. W., Huntersville. Donaldson, William D.
Ball, J. A., Washington, N. C. Doughty, Lester D.
Beaty, G. W., Gastonia. Douglass, James F.
Belk, E. A., Waxhaw. Draughton, D. D., Mt. Island
Bell, W. T., Statesville. Elms, John D.
Berrier, S. T., Gaffney, S. C. Falls, W. T., King's Mountain.
Biggers, R. H., Rock Hill. Finger, N. F., Salisbury.
Black, R. L., McAdensville. Foil, T. A., Concord.
Bulwinkle, F. C, Dallas. Foard, C, Statesville.
Bryon, L. J., Wilmington. Ford, J. E. C, McAdensville.
Campbell, Z. C, Spartanburg. Forrest, A., Concord.
Clark. J. T., Griffin, vja. Gattis, J. A., Gastonia.
Candor. F. J., Stouts. Green, E., Swain.
Costner. J. S., Gastonia. Grice, J. M., Gastonia.
Craig. E., Chitmar, Ga. Gulledge, H. M., Morven.
Craig, W. B., Gastonia. Halsell, H., Newton.
Crook. W. W., Asheville. Hampton, G. W., Sylva.
Cummings, D., Wilmington. Harmon. G. W., King's Mountain.
Cummings, W. M., Wilmington. Haymie, C, Asheville.
Davis, a. J., Spray. Haywood, J. M., Stouts.
Davis W. A., Asheville. Heath, J. M., Gastonia.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
189
Hernden, J. J., Crocker.
Hernden, M. P., Grover.
Hoffman, R. Y., Lowell.
Humphreys, Charles.
Jackson, Clemens E.
Jacobson, A. L., New York.
Jenkins, G. A., Gastonia.
Jones, Ben. F.
Kennedy, Lawrence J.-
Keller, Henry A.
Laubrey, A. C, Baltimore.
Lay, J. M., Gastonia.
Lewis, Fred E.
Linder, R. W., Gastonia.
Lindsey, H. L., Asheville.
Lipkind, Daniel.
Massagee, C. A., Asheville.
McClellan, Daniel C.
McGowan, James E.
Moore, Joseph D.
Nort, H. W., Atlanta, Ga.
O'Byrne, M., Centralia, Pa.
Pace, Albert P.
Parrish, Walter L.
Patten, James, Asheville.
Patten, James P., Asheville.
Pearce, Henry L.
Pryor, J. F., Knoxville.
Reynolds, J. O., Roberdell.
Rhodes, J. G. King's Mountain.
Richardson, J. M., Pacolet, S. C.
Richman, J. B., Tryon.
Russell, William E.
Sample, M. M., Begonia.
Savin, Charles E.
Sharar, Wilson A.
Sims, Gipson R.
Smith, E. M., Hopewell.
Smith, J. N., King's Mountain.
Steele, J. P. H., Lowell.
Thomas, J. B., Sandifer.
Wrard, E. W., Lincolnton.
Watkins, T., Bryson City.
Wafford, C. H., Matthews.
Wood, J., Asheville.
Total, 113.
ROSTER OF COMPANY A, THIRD REGIMENT. (Colored.)*
This regiment of coloied troops, of which James H.
Young, of Raleigh, was colonel, came into the service of the
United States July 19, 1898. Companies A, B and C, com-
posing a battalion, were mustered in at Fort Macon. N. C,
May 12. Company A, of Charlotte, belonged to the State
Guard, but the other companies were composed of new
recruits. The regiment was moved to Knoxville, Tenn.,
September 14, and from there to Macon, Ga., November 21,
It remained in Macon until it was mustered out in February,
1899. This body of troops was reviewed by Secretary of
War Alger, September 20, and by President McKinley,
*Died in Raleigh Hospital October 21, 1898.
*A11 enlisted from Charlotte except as otherwise stated,
mustered out February 2, 1899, at Macon, Ga.
Company
iQO HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
December 21, and was complimented by both the Secretary
and the President. C. S. L. A. Taylor, of Charlotte, was
lieutenant colonel; and M. T. Pope was assistant surgeon,
with rank as first lieutenant.
William P. Stitt, Captain.
James C. Graham, First Lieutenant.
H. H. Taylor, Warrenton, Second Lieutenant.
Samuel A. Harris, First Sergeant.**
Leander W. Hayes, First Sergeant.
Ellis H. Johnson, Q. M. Sergeant.
Prank French, Sergeant.
Zachariah Alexander, Sergeant.
James Walters, Sergeant.
Cobb Burns, Sergeant.
Henry R. Johnson, Corporal.
Clarence L. Gordon, Corporal.
Isaac W. Parks, Corporal.
Fred Lander, Corporal.
Edward W. Moss, Corporal.
Robert Abernathy, Corporal.
Arbell V. Henderson, Corporal.
William Lillington, Corporal.
Charles J. Bartlow, Corporal.
John Caldwell, Corporal.
John Gray, Corporal.
Thomas B. Smith, Corporal.
Thomas M. Mills, Musician.
George Wilson, Musician.
Haywood Abernathy, Artificer.
Augustus Abernathy, Artificer.
A. D. Chambers, Asheville, Wagoner.
Abernatny, Hampton. Barnes. S., Wilson.
Abernathy, Lewis. Barringer, Charles.
Adamson, Robert. Beasley, James.
Alexander, Lee. (Died.) Beaty, George.
Alexander, William. Benson, Edward.
Anderson, Henry. Berry, Arthur.
Avery, Robert W. Bland, Anthony.
Ballard, Isaac R. Boger, John.
'Promoted at Knoxville, Tenn., Novemoer 8, 1898.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
191
Capus, William.
Carter, Green.
Chambers, Clarence.
Clinton, A. J., Jr.
Collins, William.
Cornelius, N., Asheville.
Cooper, Lucius B.
Cunningham, Ernest L.
Cunningham, Edward.
David, Ed.
Edgerton, Wm., Asheville.
Ellis, Thomas.
Everhart, William.
Foreman, Rufus.
Garrison, Charles.
Gibbs, F. E., Asheville.
Gilmer, Walter.
Graham, John.
Grant, John W.
Grier, Adam G.
Hall, William.
Hamlin, Benjamin.
Henderson, John T.
Henderson, Thomas W.
Higgins. B., Asheville.
Housoj, Lewis.
Houstun, Simon.
Ingram, Otis.
Johnson, William.
Jones, Anthony.
Jones, William.
Kelly, Henry.
Knotts, Charles.
Lemmons, William.
Lytle, Claud.
McConneyhead, M.
McCorkle, Julius.
McFadden, W. C.
McKinney, G. F.
McMullen, William.
Moore, Bishop.
Moss, Edward L.
Neal, Brooks.
Nelson, Richard.
Newlan, Thomas.
Oglesoy, F., Asheville.
(Died.) Pharr. Floyd.
Phifer, William.
Robb, Fester.
Robertson, F. J.
Robertson, Reuben.
Senior, Hall.
Sims, Reuoen.
Snowden, Emanuel.
Springs, Alexander.
Steele, John.
Swepson, P. J., Asheville.
Torrence, J antes.
Wade, Joseph W.
Wallace, Daniel.
Walls, Edward.
Watson, James.
Wheeler, Thomas.
White, James T.
White, William.
Williams, Harrison.
Williams. Richard.
Wilson, Eli.
Withers, Hayes.
Young, Samuel, Jr.
Total, 113.
192 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
CHAPTER XVII.
LIST OF MINISTERS.
Names of the Preachers who have Served the Leading Churches of
Charlotte, With the Number of Years of Service of Each
TRYON STREET BAPTIST.
1S55 to 1858— R. B. Jones,
1858 to 1869— R. H. Griffith.
1 87 1 to 1873 — J. B. Boone.
1S74 to 1881 — Theodore Whitfield.
1 881 to 1885— O. F. Gregory.
1885 to 1892 — A. G. McManaway.
1893 to 1896 — Thomas H. Pritchard.
1896 to — A. C. Barron.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN.
1 82 1 to 1826— S. C. Caldwell.
1827 to 1833 — R. H. Morrison.
1834 to 1839 — A. J. Leavenworth.
1839 to 1842— T. Owens, J. M. Caldwell, H. Caldwell.
1842 to 1846 — J. F. W. Freeman.
1846 to 1855 — Cyrus Johnston.
1855 to 1857— A. W. Miller.
1857 to 1865 — Alexander Sinclair.
1865 to 1892— A. W. Miller.
1892 to 1893 — E. Mack.
1893 to 189(3 — John A. Preston.
1896 to — James R. Howerton.
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN.
1873 to 1874— \Y. S. Plumer.
1874 to 1881— E. H. Harding.
u-/** j,s^-i- o<£. a
\ f ' ^' // / ^ * <"\ st / & /-
M
xt^
j £ir »*Uf* 4«t" tf-**3£SS ■
CONTRACT DATED IN 1737.
LIST OF MINISTERS. 1 93
1882 to 1886— L. M. Woods.
1886 to 1889— J. Y. Fair.
1889 to 1892— R. C. Reed.
1893 to 1895 — J. H. Boyd.
1896 to 1903 — J. E. Stagg.
1903 to — M. D. Hardin.
TENTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN.
1890 to 1890 — Jesse W. Siler.
1890 to 1891 — C. W. Robinson.
1892 to 1895— F. D. Hunt.
1896 to 1897— W. G. White.
1897 to 1898 — W. A. WTynne.
1900 to — G. W. Belk.
TRYON STREET METHODIST.
1815 to 1817— W. B. Barnett.
1 81 7 to 1818 — Reuben Tucker.
1 81 8 to 1 82 1 — Hartwell Spain, Zacheus Dowling.
1 82 1 to 1822 — Jacob Hill.
1822 to 1823 — T. A. Roseman.
1823 to 1824 — Jeremiah Freeman.
1824 to 1825 — Daniel Asbury.
1825 to 1826 — Elisha Askew.
1826 to 1827 — D. F. Christenberry.
1827 to 1828 — DanielF. Waid.
1828 to 1830 — Benjamin Bell.
1830 to 1832 — Absalom Brown.
1832 to 1833 — John J. Richardson.
1833 to 1834— J. J. Allison.
1834 to 1835 — David J. Allen.
1835 to 1836 — W. J. Jackson .
1836 to 1838— W. R. Smith.
1838 to 1839 — W. Harrison.
1839 to 1840 — Martin Eddy.
194
HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
1840
to IJ
1S4I
to IJ
1842
to I<
1843
to IJ
1845
to IJ
1847
to IJ
1849
to Ii
1851
to I<
1853
to I<
1854
to I<
1855
to I<
1857
to I<
1859
to I,
i860
to I
1862
to I
1863
to ii
1864
to I
1865
to I
1866
to I
1867
to I
1869
to I
1870
to I
1871
to I
1873
to I
1876
to I
1880
to I
1884
to I
1886
to I
1888
to I
1892
to I
1896
to I
1898
to I
1901
to
841— A. B. McGilvarv.
842 — C. Murchison.
843— C. H. Pritchard.
845 — W. P. Mangum.
847 — W. Barringer.
849— P. A. M. Williams.
851— J- J -Fleming.
853— A. G. Stacy.
854— J. W. Miller.
855 — John R. Rickett.
857 — James Stacy.
859 — E. J. Meynardie.
860— J. W. Miller.
862 — F. M. Kennedy.
863 — Dennis J. Simmons.
864— C. H. Pritchard.
865 — James Stacy.
866— W. C. Power and C. E. Lund.
867— W. C. North.
869 — E. J. Meynardie.
870 — E. W. Thompson.
871 — A. W. Mangutn.
873 — L. S. Burkhead.
876 — P. J. Caraway.
880 — A. A. Boshamer.
884— J. T. Bag .veil.
886— W. M. Robey.
888— F. D. Swindell.
892 — Solomon Pool.
896— W. S. Creasv.
898— W. W. Bays.
901 — H. F. Chrietzburg.
— T. F. Marr.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DAVIDSON.
A Brief Sketch of the Progressive Town Which Has Grown up
Around the College. — Has Macadam Streets and Factories, and
a Large Business is Done. — The Corporation Dates From 1879.
The town of Davidson College was incorporated by the
Legislature February n, 1879. Its boundaries include
rectangular one mile wide and one and one-half miles long.
The first officials were : Mayor, W. P. Williams ; Commis-
sioners, W. J. Martin, H. P. Helper, R. L. Query, S. T.
Thompson and F. J. Knox.
In 1 891, the name of the town postoffice was changed
from Davidson College to Davidson. When the college
was established, in 1837, there was no town, but as the vil-
lage grew, there arose a demand that it should be distin-
guished from the college; hence the name was changed. The
officials at this time were: Mayor, R. W. Shelton; Com-
missioners, S. R. Neal, W. S. Graves, J. P. Monroe, J. L.
Bratton and J. W. Summers.
With less than 150 voters, the town, in May, 1897, voted
for an issue of $6,000 in bonds for street improvements. As
a result, the corporation now has two and one-eighth miles
of macadam streets. This has served to stimulate the pro-
gressive spirit, and elegant homes and beautiful grounds
are to be seen in all parts of the town. Davidson is twenty-
two miles from Charlotte by railroad and twenty miles by
the county road. Of the latter, ten miles of the twenty is
macadamized.
There is a local tax of one-half of one per cent on the
$100 valuation of property and $1.50 capitation tax. This
brings in $1,300 annually, the assessed valuation of taxable
property amounting to $253,564. In addition to this, the
Davidson College property is valued at $160,000 and other
exempted property at $15,000, making a total valuation of
$428,564. The present officials are: Mayor, J. Lee Sloan,
[96 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Jr.; Commissioners. W. R. Grey, K. J. Knox. J. S. White,
W. H. Thompson and H. J. Brown. The population, ac-
cording to Census repi >rt>. was 484 in 1890, and 901 in 1900.
In September, 1903. the population, including that of the
suburbs, was estimated at 1,250. Only about two hundred
of these are colored people.
The Linden Manufacturing Company, with 7,000 spin-
dles, began operations in 1891. The plant is valued at $92.-
000, and employs seventy persons. A cotton oil mill was
built in 1900 and was sold to the Southern Cotton Oil Com-
pany in 1901. It is worth. $35,000. The Davidson Milling
Company, manufacturers of flour, is capable of producing
forty barrels of flour daily. The eleven stores have a good
trade, and the surrounding country sells much produce. In
1903, one thousand bushels of peach seed, which were sold
for one dollar a bushel, were shipped from Davidson to
Northern markets. Two thousand bales of cotton are sold
at Davidson annually and as much more at Cornelius, a mill
town a mile distant. There is one hotel and numerous
boarding houses in the town, and several small workshops
of various kinds.
Until 1886, there was no church in the village, the college
chapel being used for public worship. In that year, a part
of the campus was given for a church site and a building
was erected at a cost of $7,000. An equal amount was ex-
pended for improvements in 1903. The church has 220
members and ranks high among Presbyterian churches for
liberality. The colored people have two churches, one
a Methodist and the other a Presbyterian. Zion Metho-
dist Church, several miles from Davidson, has a member-
ship of nearly five hundred.
Davidson High School has been for several years a first-
class preparatory school. The public school is conducted in
connection with it for four months every year. The school
has a good building, three teachers and an average attend-
ance of about one hundred and twenty.
Davidson College is situated on a beautiful campus of
->• jf^r*"ymn """
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REVOLUTIONARY CURRENCY.
DAVIDSON. I97
twenty acres, and the grove is occupied with numerous and
elegant buildings. The equipment is among the best of
Southern colleges and is being constantly improved. The
buildings are supplied with artesian water and arrangements
are being made for the installation of an electric light plant.
The North Carolina Medical College is also located in the
town, but it is not officially connected with Davidson Col-
lege.
CHAPTER XIX.
PINEVILLE.
Brief Sketch of the Growth of the Town Which was Built Where
President Polk was Born. — In Fifty Years it has Developed
Into a Prosperous Community With Factories and a Population
of Seven Hundred. — Creditable Churches and Schools, and
Names of Some Prominent Families.
The history of the town of Pineville begins with the year
1852. In that year the railroad was completed to that point
and a depot and store were established. The town was in-
corporated in 1873 with four commissioners: A. C. Wil-
liams, John W. Morrow, W. L. Wallis, and Samuel Younts.
According- to the provisions of the charter, the mayor is
elected annually by the commissioners.
The population of Pineville was given at 585 by the Cen-
sus of 1900. It was about 700 in 1903. Of this number of in-
habitants, 125 are colored people. There are ten stores and
they carry on a considerable trade. About three thousand
bales of cotton are sold in the town every year, and the
number has been as high as six thousand.
In 1890, the Dover Yarn Mill was established, the stock-
holders being nearly all Charlotte people. A weaving de-
partment was added to it in 1902 and the two factories com-
bined employ from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
hands, and have 9,400 spindles and 400 looms.
Pineville High School occupies a good building, which
was erected in 1898. It has three teachers and usually abnut
125 students. There is no local school tax and the public
school is conducted in connection with the High School.
From 1896 to 1899 there was a school tax under the pro-
vision which required the receipts from it to be duplicated
from the State Treasury. There are three creditable church
buildings. The Presbyterians occupy a brick church which
was built in 1875. The Methodist church was built in 1881,
and the Baptist church in 1903. The colored people also
Know all Men&y |he&Pj-efents, ^%g&
&-C; netd anil firmlv hound unto ^!";'
-Xmtt Money ^:=~7~'T7Z a — ^ t0 l)C
paid tl ^fayy^y^
. or to <^t<7 certain Attorney, •
^ Executors, Adminiftrators orAffigns. To which
^ y Payment, Well and truly to be made cu^ do bind
' a? *w k\v^ <?W "Heirs, Executors and Adminiftra-
tors, jointly and feverally, firmly by thefe Prefents.
J M Sealed with^*^ SeaL/, and dated the ^<f£i<^/jii
♦ Day of o'^^W-*^. in the Year of our Lord one
i ^ thoufand, feven hundred, and fixty-yC~-- ; and in
' * l In ffijflffillu f i of the Reign of our fovereign Lord
GEORC^the Tbard, by the Grace of God, King of
Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, &c, ,
The CONDITION of the above ObligatK«Pj»ii
fuch, That if the above-bounden ~^<
or~/fev Heirs, Executors, Adminiftrators, or any of them,
•{hall and do well and truly pay, or caufe to be paid unto the
the above-named ^7 V^&^-r- o^^^^-^ " " * ~~ ""
l . - _„ orto/k^ certain Attorney, Executors, ,
Adminiftrators or Affigns, thejuft and fuU Sum of ./«~^£
^^Stlon^afolcTaid," on or before the &***>**& T)jy
>W /-fix J & 4^, /uf^tL^'
— — — ■ — -s without any Fraud or
further Delay, then the above Obligation to be void, or clic-
he and remain in full Force and Virtue
Suit \nd,
Wfm/Mi'ZfS'A
CONTRACT, 1765.
PINEVILIvE. 199
have a Presbyterian and a Baptist church, and a school.
Since the beginning of Pineville in 1852, a number of
prominent families have contributed to the growth of the
town. Among them are the Alexanders, Fishers, Spencers,
Morrows, Younts, Ardrews, Reids, Mansons, Dominys,
Stoughs, Millers and Smiths. The town is situated in one
of the best sections of Mecklenburg county, and has the dis-
tinction of being the birthplace of a President. The site of
the house in which James Knox Polk was born, is one mile
from the depot on the Camden road.
CHAPTER XX.
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.
Characteristics of the Mecklenburg Negro. — Comparative Effects of
Slavery and Freedom on the Increase of Population. — Tribute
to the Memory of Major Ross. — Important Dates in Mecklen-
burg History. — List of Mayors of Charlotte. — Acts of the Gen-
eral Assembly Creating Mecklenburg. Establishing Charlotte
and Permanently Locating the Court House. — County Road
Legislation.
THE MECKLENBURG NEGRO.
The history of Mecklenburg- involves the story of three
races of men. viz. : the Indian, the Negro and the White
man.
The story of the Indian is of the past; that race was lost
before advancing civilization as the winter snows fade be-
fore the suns of summer. There is no evidence to show that
it was ever in the minds or hearts of the white race to de-
stroy the native red race. It was simply a case of the In-
dian's inability to adapt himself to a civilization higher
than that to which his own development had carried him.
So far from having a purpose to destroy the Indian, the
white man made every effort to Christianize him and to save
him from destruction. Even to this day, the National Gov-
ernment is repeating in a sort of final effort the same sup-
porting influences for the benefit of the Indian that have
been extended by the white man ever since he landed upon
this continent.
As the Indian disappeared, the white man brought into
this country another race for the advantage of its labor. Of
these it made slaves, and so long as slavery lasted the negro
race, in a condition of slavery, was a part of the organization
of the Southern social and industrial fabric. As a slave,
the negro undoubtedly made great progress in respect to his
moral, religious and humane nature. As a slave, he un-
doubtedly retarded civ;lization in the South. By the influ-
- r ■ -. ------
NEGRO PASSES.
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 201
ence of slavery the civilization of the South developed as a
sort of semi-feudal proposition rather than in accordance
with the American Declaration of Independence and the
Federal Constitution. By the influence of the negro the
South lost its manufactures and largely its commerce, and
became practically a purely agricultural section of the nation.
The loss of manufactures and commerce weakened the ter-
ritory in which slavery existed. From 1830 to i860, there
was little or no progress in wealth or in population. The
story of the negro up to the time of his emancipation is a
simple one. He was brought to this country regardless of
his own will in the matter, he acquiesced easily, and without
apparent regret subordinated himself wholly to the white
man. These conditions were better than the conditions from
which he came. The better element among them were willing
to work without coercion. The more inferior types, like the
cannibal element from the west coast of Guinea, were very
easily coerced and the coercion appears to have been ad-
vantageous to them. They prospered as slaves. The free-
dom from responsibility seems to have been agreeable to
them and their position of subordination to the white man
seems also to have been agreeable.
The story of the negro as a free man is now in course of
working out. The white race has no purpose to destroy the
race, nor to retard its progress. As a Christian, the white
man wishes in good faith to do everything possible to save
and lift the negro. What the outcome will be cannot at
this time be predicted. Probably the better element will sur-
vive and have a place in our Christian civilization. Proba-
bly the inferior element will go the way that the Indian went,
in spite of helpful influences to the contrary. In what pro-
portion the better element and the inferior element exist is
purely speculative.
It has been said that Africa is a Mosaic of races. The
highest and lowest types of these are probably as far apart
in traits and characteristics as the highest of them is apart
from the traits and characteristics of the white race. In
2 2 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
view of this fact, civilization may in the future deal in one
way with one element and in a totally different way with
another. The white man did one thing with the Indian and
another thing with the negro as a slave. The high types of
negroes — the product of crossing with the Arab, Syrian
and Moor, and also many of the Central African races, such
as those among whom Livingstone lived in the latter part
of his life, seem at this time to be making most excellent
progress towards attaining to the standards of the American
white man and his civilization. On the other hand the in-
ferior types are undoubtedly retrograding and there are
many instances of almost complete revertal of the descend-
ant of the cannibal to the level oi his ancestors.
Regardless of the fate of the negro, the white man will
survive and will continue to be the controlling factor in all
matters of advancing civilization. It has been made plain
that slavery was an influence extremely hindering to the
progress of the white man's civilization.
The illustrations of negro types are taken from life and
give some idea of the very great varieties in the race.
The negroes of Mecklenburg county will average far
above those in the "low country," which means the territory-
lying on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The county
has very few of the descendants of West Coast cannibals, or
"blue gum niggers," and a large proportion of Arab. Moor-
ish and semi-civilized pastoral negroes from Central Africa.
freedom vs. slavery.
In gathering and studying statistics relating to Mecklen-
burg county, some rather interesting facts are made clear.
The accompanying table shows the population of Charlotte
City, Charlotte Township, Mecklenburg county, and North
Carolina, as completely as it can be obtained from 1790 to
1909. It is noticeable that the population of the county
decreased between 1830 and i860. This decrease was partly
due to the creation of Union county, which took 5,000 from
Mecklenburg's population, but after allowing for this, the
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.
203
increase would be insignificant and there would still remain
a decrease of 1,800 to be accounted for between 1830 and
1840. The stationary condition during the thirty years in
which the institution of slavery was dominant was mainly
attributable to emigration. Many of those who believed in
and advocated slavery, emigrated to the Southwest to find
more land ; while those who had least interest and sympathy
with the institution emigrated to the Northwest.
POPULATION.
YEAK.
CHARLOTTE
CITY
CHARLOTTE
TOWNSHIP
MECKLENBURG
COUNTY
NORTH
CAROLINA
1790
325
11,395
10,439*
14,272
16,895
20,073
18,273
13,914**
17,374
24,299
34,175
42,673
55,268
393,751
1800
478,103
1810
555,500
1820
638,829
1830
730
737,987
1840
753,416
1850
869,039
1860
1,366
2 212
7^094
11,755
18,091
992,622
1870
1,071,361
1880
1,399,750
1890
1900
15,304
26.312
1,617,947
1,893,810
* Creation of Cabarros in 1792 took 4,000 from Mecklenburg-.
** Creation of Union in 1842 took 5000 from Mecklenburg
After making allowance for loss of population by the con-
struction of Union county, the following comparative state-
ments are found to be true .
Increase in population in Mecklenburg county in the three
decades between 1830 and i860 was practically nothing.
Increase in the three decades between 1870 and 1900 is in
round numbers 125 per cent. It becomes clear that this is
not merely the result of purely local conditions when the
figures for the State are examined.
This table shows that the increase in population in North
Carolina since the abolition of slave labor and the conse-
quent establishment of free white labor and commerce and
manufactures has far surpassed the increase in the time
when slave labor was predominant.
204 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Jt may be observed that the increase in the one decade
from 1870 to 1880 is about the same as that in the four de-
cades preceding 1870. This latter includes the losses in-
curred in the war, but there remains the comprehensive fact
that in the four decades in which slavery was practically
dominant, the. increase in the population oi the State was
about the same as in the first decade succeeding the down-
fall of the slavery system.
Prior to 1800, the trend of emigration was to Mecklen-
burg county, but it was checked with the introduction of
slavery about the beginning of the nineteenth century. For
twenty-five years it became smaller and then the tide turned
in the other direction, and until the Civil War, Mecklenburg
people emigrated to the Northwest or Southwest. Since
the South has turned to manufactures and the negro's value
as a laborer has consequently decreased, it is probably that
emigration will again turn to this section.
TRIBUTE TO MAJOR B. A. ROSS.*
"Among the men who nobly fell that desperate evening
(July 1, 1864), in no feeling of partiality allow us to drop
a tribute to the memory of Major E. A. Ross, of the Eleventh
(Bethel) North Carolina Regiment, a promising young of-
ficer. At a p )int where the battle was raging most furiously,
this regiment was pressing on unquailing in the face of a
fearful iron and leaden storm when the colonel fell severely
wounded, he (Ross) dashed to his place, and in gallantly
leading his men on in the desperate charge, received a mortal
wound and fell shouting his men on to victory. In the first
battle of his country ( that of Bethel) he had won his maiden
laurels. With "Bethel" emblazoned upon his regimental
flag at the instance of the State, he had seen it wave victo-
rious! v over the beaten foe on the soil of his native State (at
the battle of White Hall, N. C.) And thus fell this gallant
*By Daniel B. Rea, of Mecklenburg, in "Sketches of Hampton's
Cavalry." Major Ross was only 20 years of age. His remains were
interred in the Charlotte Cemetery November 24, 1865.
BILL OF SALE, 1747.
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 205
young officer, just as its tattered folds were waving- over the
first victory in the enemy's land, gloriously dying 'with the
battle cry upon his lips and the blaze of victory in his eye.'
He sleeps his long sleep on the enemy's soil; and may no
fanatical foot ever press the sacred sod upon his bosom. And
when the final shout of spiritual victory 'shall swell land
and sea,' may his noble spirit and the many others who have
died for human liberty, go up washed in the blood of Him
who died for the spiritual liberty of mankind."
IMPORTANT DATES IN MECKLENBURG HISTORY.
1740 — First Settlers.
1 761 — Creation of Tryon Coirr.ty.
1761, March 15 — Birth of .Andrew Jackson.
1762 — First School Teacher.
1762, December 11 — Creation of Mecklenburg.
1 764 — First Physician.
1765 — Beginning of Charlotte.
1 768 — Incorporation of Charlotte.
1 77 1 — Queen's College Established.
1775, May 20 — Declaration of Independence.
1 780, September 26 — The Hornets' Nest.
1780, October 3 — Surprise at Mclntyre's.
1 781, February 1 — Death of Gen. Davidson.
1790 — Discovery of Gold.
1 791, May 25 — George Washington in Charlotte.
1792 — Creation of Cabarrus County.
1795, November 2 — Birth of James Knox Polk.
1805 — Nathaniel Alexander Elected Governor.
181 5 — First Church in Charlotte.
1824 — First Newspaper in Charlotte.
• 1834 — Branch of State Bank Established.
1837 — Davidson College.
1837— United States Mint.
1852 — Railroad Completed to Charlotte.
1854 — Macadamized Streets.
1858— C. M. I. Opened.
206 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
i860, December 1 — County Secession Convention.
i860, April 20 — Mint Occupied by Local Militia.
1865, April 15 to 20 — Jefferson Davis in Charlotte.
1 S67 — Biddle University.
1873 — Graded School.
1875, May 20 — Independence Centennial Celebration.
1876 — St. Peter's Hospital.
1 88 1— First Cotton Mill.
1882 — Water Works Plant.
1882— Cotton Seed Oil Mill.
1884 — Macadamized Roads.
1887 — Street Cars.
1889 — Evening News.
1892, February 1 — Charlotte Observer.
1893 — North Carolina Medical College.
1895 — Presbyterian College.
1897 — Elizabeth College.
LIST OF MAYORS OF CHARLOTTE.*
1 85 1 to 1852— William K. Reid.
1852 to 1853 — Alexander Graham.****
1853 to 1857 — William F. Davidson.
1857 to 1859 — David Parks.
1859 to 1 861 — Jennings B. Kerr.
1 86 1 to 1862 — William A. Owens.
1862 to 1863— Robert F. Davidson.**
1863 to 1864— L. S. Williams.**
1864 to 1865 — Samuel A. Harris.
1865 to 1866— H. M. Pritchard.
1866 to 1867 — Samuel A. Harris.
1867 to 1868— F. W. Ahrens.***
1868 to i860— H. M. Pritchard.***
*This official was known as "Intendent" until 1861. Prior to 1851,
there had been merely a Chairman of the Town Commissioners. The
town officers were elected annually until 1881. Since then, bi-enni-
ally.
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 201/
1869 to 1 87 1— C. Dowd.
1 87 1 to 1873 — John A. Young.
1873 to 1875 — William F. Davidson.
1875 to 1878 — William Johnston.
1878 to 1879— B. R. Smith.
1879 to 1880 — F. I. Osborne.
1880 to 1883— F. S. DeWolfe.
1883 to 1884— W. C. Maxwell.
1885 to 1887 — William Johnston.
1887 to 1891— F. B. McDowell.
1 891 to 1895 — R- J- Brevard.
1895 to 1897 — J- H. Weddington.
1897 to 1899 — E. B. Springs.
1899 to 1900 — J. D. McCall.
1901 to 1905 — Peter Marshall Brown.
*** Appointed by Gov. Holden.
**Elected to fill vacancy.
**First "Intendent" elected by popiuar vote.
ACT CREATING MECKLENBURG COUNTY, 1 762.*
(From Iredell's North Carolina Laws, Page 210, Published
in 1 79 1.)
I. Whereas by Reason of the large Extent of the County
of Anson, it is generally inconvenient for the Inhabitants to
attend Court of the aforesaid County, general Musters, and
other public Duties by Law required:
II. Be it therefore enacted by the Governor, Council and
Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the Authority of the
same, That from and after the first Day of February, the
said County of Anson shall be, and is hereby divided into
two distinct Counties, by a Line beginning at Lord Car-
*Petition presented November 12, 1762. Bill introduced November
17. Passed December 2. Ratified December 11. Signed by Gov.
Arthur Dobbs, President James Hasell and Speaker John Ashe.
(Colonial Records, Vol. VI, Page 891.)
208 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
terefs Line, six Miles North-East from Captain Charles
Hart's plantation on Buffalo Creek, and to run from thence
to the Mouth of Clear Creek, which empties itself into Rocky
River, below Captain Adam Alexander's; and from thence
due South to the Bounds of the Province of South Carolina.
And that all that Part of said County which lies to the East-
ward of said dividing Line, shall be a distinct County, and
remain and be called by the Name of Anson County: and
that all that Part of the said County lying to the Westward
of said dividing Line, shall he thenceforth one other distinct
County, and called by the name of Mecklen^u/rg.
ACT ESTABLISHING CHARLOTTE.*
{from Martin's Acts of the General Assembly, Pages 55
and 56, Published in 1794.)
I. Whereas it hath been represented to this Assembly
that three hundred and sixty acres of land was granted to
John Frohoek, Abraham Alexander and Thomas Polk, as
commissioners, intrust for the county aforesaid, for erect-
ing a court house, prison, and stocks, for the use of said
county; which said three hundred and sixty acres of land
was afterwards by them laid off into a town and common ;
and that part of the said three hundred and sixty acres 1 f
land hath likewise been laid out into lots, of half an acre
each, on some of which good habitable houses have been
erected ; and that by reason of the healthiness of the place
aforesaid and convenient situation thereof for trade, the
same might soon become considerable, if it was erected into
a town by lawful authi writy : to which the said John Frohoek,
Abraham Alexander and Thomas Polk, commissioners
aforesaid, who are now seized in fee of the said three hun-
dred and sixty acres, and those who claim under them, hav-
ing consented :
II. Be it therefore enacted, by tlic Governor, Council and
♦Ratified December 3, 1768. (Colonial Records, Vol. VII, Page
921.)
ARAB-AFRICAN.
Butlers, Body Servants and Mechanics. From Northeast Coast.
Color, Dark Bronze to Red Gold. Straight Nose, Thin Lips and
Woolly Hair. Women Very Handsome. Arabs Ally Themselves
With This Type as an Equal.
SARACEN-AFRICAN.
Preachers, Mechanics and Farm Laborers. From Highlands of Mid-
dle Africa. Color, Dark Bronze. High Forehead, Woolly Hair.
DINKA-NEGRO.
House Servants and Farm Laborers. The "Mammy" Was Usually
From This Type. Pastoral People From Upper and Middle Nile.
"Strikingly Long and Lean," Predominantly Dark, With Shad-
ing Toward Gray.
GUINEA-NEGRO.
Farm Laborers. West Coast. Color, Black. Flat Nose, Thick Lips,
Receding Forehead, Kinky Hair. With Savage and Cannibal
Instincts. Colloquially known as "Blue-Gum Nigger."
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. JOO,
Assembly and by the authority of the same, that the said
three hundred and sixty acres of land, so laid off by the com-
missioners or trustees as aforesaid, be and the same is hereby
constituted, erected, and established, a town and town com-
mon, and shall be called by the name of Charlotte.
III. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid,
That John Frohock, Abraham Alexander, Thomas Polk,
Richard Berry, Esquires, and George Allen, and every of
them, be, and are hereby appointed directors and trustees,
for directing the building and carrying on the said town ;
and they shall stand seized of an indefeasible estate, in fee,
in the said three hundred and sixty acres of land, to and
for the uses, intents and purposes, hereby expressed and de-
clared; and they, or the majority of them, shall have full
power and authority to meet, as often as they shall think
necessary ; and cause an exact plan of one hundred acres of
the said land to be made, as near as may be, agreeable to the
streets and lots already laid out, and. the residue thereof shall
be and remain for a common thereto; and that the said direc-
tors shall insert a mark or number on each lot; which said
plan shall be kept in some convenient place in the said town,
for the view of such persons who have, or incline to have a
lot or lots in the same.
IV. And whereas eighty lots already laid off in the said
town, have been purchased; Be it therefore enacted by the
authority aforesaid, that the said directors, or the majority
of them, shall make and execute deeds for granting and con-
veying the said eighty lots to the purchasers, their heirs and
assigns, forever; and also to every other person who shall
purchase any other lot or lots in the said town at the cost and
charges of the grantee to whom the same shall be conveyed,
he or they paying to the treasurer herein after appointed, the
annual rent of one shilling, for each and every lot; and
every person claiming any lot or lots by virtue of any such
conveyance, shall and may hold the same in fee simple.
V. Provided, nevertheless, that every grantee of any lot
or lots in the said town so conveved, or hereafter to be con-
2IO HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
veyed, shall, within three years next after the elate of the
c< mveyance for the same, erect and build on each lot so con-
veyed, one well framed sawed or hewed log house, twenty
feet in length, and sixteen feet wide, high in the clear, with
brick or stone chimney or chimnies, or proportionable to
such dimensions, if such grantee shall have two or more lots
in said town : and if the owner of any lot shall not pursue or
comply with the directions of this act prescribed, for build-
ing and finishing a house thereon, then such lot upon which
such house shall not be built and finished, shall be vested in
the said directors; and they or the majority of them may.
and are hereby impowered and authorized, to sell such lot
for the best price that can be had, to any person applying
for the same, in such manner and under such restriction-.
they could or might have done if such lot had not before
been sold or granted ; and the money arising by such sale to
be applied as the directors, or the majority of them, shall
think proper, for the use of the town.
VI. And be it further enacted, by the authority afore-
said, that Thomas Polk be, and is hereby appointed treasurer
of the said town; who shall enter into bond, with sufficient
security, to the directors of the said town, in the penal sum
of five hundred pounds that he will well and truly account
with and pay the monies he shall receive in virtue of his
office, to such person or persons as by this act he is directed :
and on the death or removal out of the county of the said
treasurer, the remaining directors, or the majority of them.
by certificate under their hands and seals, shall nominate and
appoint one other of the said directors to be treasurer of the
said town : and so in like manner, from time to time, as often
as the said office shall become vacant as aforesaid ; and such
treasurer or treasurers shall enter into bond, with security,
in the same manner as the treasurer by this act appointed.
VII. And be it further enacted, by the authority afore-
said, that in case of the death, refusal to act. or removal out
of the county, of any of the said directors, the surviving or
other directors, or the majority of them, shall, and are
hereby impowered. from time to time, by instrument of
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 211
writing, under their respective hands and seals, to nominate
some other person, being an inhabitant or freeholder in said
town, in the place of him so dying, or refusing to act, or re-
moving out of the said county ; which director so nominated
and appointed shall from thenceforth, have the like power
and authority, in all things in the matters herein contained,
as if he had been expressed by name, and appointed by this
act.
AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE COURT HOUSE IN THE TOWN
OF CHARLOTTE, IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY, AND OF REG-
ULATING THE SAID TOWN.*
(From Martin's Acts of the General Assembly.)
I. Whereas, by an act intitled, An act for dividing the
county of Mecklenburg, and other purposes, the court of the
county was directed to be held in the court house then built
d'iring the term of seven years, which said term is rear ex-
piring; and it having been represented that the removal of
the seat of the court from the said court house, and the dis-
posal of the same, agreeable to the before recited act, would
be inconvenient to many of the inhabitants of the said county
and discourage the trade and commerce of said town;
II. Be it therefore enacted, by the Governor, Council, and
Assembly, and by the authority of the same, that from and
after the passing of this act, the said court house already
built in Charlotte town, be, continue, and remain the court
house of the said county of Mecklenburg, and the inferior
court of the said county shall hereafter be constantly held
therein; any thing in the said act contained to the contrary
notwithstanding.
III. And whereas the frequent firing of guns, running
horse races, and playing at long bullets, in the said town, is
found to have a dangerous tendency; to prevent which, Be
♦Passed in March, 1773, but vetoed by Gov. Martin because of
technical errors. Finally ratified March 19, 1774. (Colonial Rec-
ords, Vol. IX, Page 862.)
212 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after
the passing thereof, no person whatsoever shall shoot with
a gun (except it be to kill cattle or r immoderately
ride or strain any horse or horses, or play at long bullets,
within the limits of the said town, under the penalty of pay-
ing the sum of twenty shillings for each offence; to be re-
covered by a warrant, before any Justice of the Peace of the
said county, by one of the trustees.
IV. And whereas by an act. for establishing a town in
Mecklenburg comity, every person having a deed of any lot
in the said town of Charlotte is required to build a house, of
the dimensions in the said act specified, within three year>
after the date of the conveyance for the same, which is
found to be injurious to the inhabitants of the said town;
Be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that no person or
persons shall forfeit his or their lot or lots for not building
i n the same, except such lots shall front on one of the main
streets in the said town; any law. usage, or custom, to the
contrary notwithstanding.
V. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid,
that every taxable person in the said town shall be obliged
to work on the streets thereof six days in every year, if re-
quired by the overseer, or find some person to work for him.
under the penalty of five shillings for every day he shall re-
fuse or neglect ; shall be recovered as is hereinbefore directed.
VI. And whereas some of the trustees of the said town
are dead, and others removed out of the province; Be it en-
acted by the authority aforesaid, that Jeremiah McCafferty.
Robert Elliot. JVilliaiu Patterson, and Isaac Alexander, be
added to the trustees formerly appointed, and they are
hereby invested with the same powers and authorities as the
other trustees : anything to the contrary notwithstanding.
VII. And be it further enacted, by the authority afore-
said, that all fines arising in virtue of this act. shall be ap-
plied towards clearing and repairing the streets in the said
town of Charlotte.
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 2 1 3
COUNTY ROAD LEGISLATION. *
The first legislation in connection with the movement
which has resulted in Mecklenburg's good roads, was by the
General Assembly of 1879. The bill enacted was introduced
by Capt. S. B. Alexander, who by this and subsequent efforts
in the same direction, came to be known as the "Father of
Good Roads in Mecklenburg." This law, which provided
for a special road tax applicable to all residents of the coun-
ty, met with the disapproval of the people and was repealed
in 1881.
Capt. Alexander and others continued their efforts in the
county, and in 1884, Capt. Alexander was elected to the
State Senate with the avowed purpose of re-enacting the
good roads legislation. The bill, which is substantially the
road law at the present time, was introduced into the House
of Representatives by Capt. W. E Ardrey, and was passed
after a determined fight.
References: General Road Laws, Chapter 50, Taws of
1901, Page 195, Amended to General Road Law, Chapter
445, Laws of 1903, Page 788; Charlotte Township Law,
Chapter 615, Laws of 1901, Page 857; Amendment to Char-
lotte Township Law, Chapter 380, Laws of 1903, Page 629.
*Chapter 36, Volume I, contains the account offload Building."
Page.
Act Creating Mecklenburg 207
Act Establishing Charlotte 208
Act Establishing Court House 210
Adams to Jefferson 11
Alexander 18, 26
Bancroft 49
Birthplace 84
Black Boys 60
Censor 53
Certificate 17
Charleston 2
Charlotte Democrat <»
Civil War 142
Colonial Records 2
Controversy 1
Copies of Declaration 32
Correspondence 37
Craighead 104
Cummins 1 9
Dates 205
Davidson (town) 198
Davidson 27
Davie Copy 7
Declaration 1 32
Diamond 115
Fanning 98
Force 4, 37
Freedom 202
Garden's Writings 4
Gazette 2 4
Geology m
Gold HO
Graham 20
Hagler 100
Hawkes 4 g
Hagler 4 3
Henderson t 17
Jackson 34
Jefferson's Writings 3 n
*This index does not include references to the names in Chap-
ters 4, 12, 13, 14. 15, 16, and 17.
Jack 17
Johnson 28
Independence 57
Indians LOO
Instructions 29
Literature 54
Liquor 88
Macon 3
Martin's History 3, 5, 9
Mayors 20G
McAden 104
Mercury 2, 8
Mexican War 180
Minerals 113
Minerva 3
Mining L09
Ministers 192
Mint 127-131
Money 02
Monument 57
Negro 200
Pineville 198
Pioneers 87
Poem 58
Population 202
Raleigh Register 14, 16
Ramsey 28
Randall 53
Regulation 96
Religion 104
Representatives 132
Resolves 34
Road Legislation 213
Ross 2041
Simeson 25
Slavery 202
Spanish-American War 183
Spy 4
Stevenson 58
Statistics 202
Swain 4, 44, 49
Troops 135, 142, 180, 183
Vaughn 37, SO
War of 1812 135
Wheeler 9
Williamson 6, 8
Wilson 27
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